Infinity Jump
by FreyrDecibel
Summary: A bright and aspiring huntsman begins his-and he's dead. Darn. Wait, now he isn't? What's happening here? A Jumpchain fic where the author unapologetically breaks the rules and the writing is meh. OC centric with a character who will likely soar into the lands of Mary Sue at posthaste. Rated T for now, may change in the future.
1. Chapter 1: False Start

Disclaimer: Something something don't own anything except my own original content.

enjoy.

* * *

"It is really a shame, in this world of darkness, the amount of lights we see snuffed out prematurely."

"But isn't that the better for things such as you and I? More for us to take."

"Perhaps. Perhaps not."

"I wonder where they go…"

* * *

"Uncle Qrow!" That was the yell of a small, redheaded child as she bounded out from within the house and out into the front. Garbed in an oversized red cape and a similarly colored top and shorts, albeit with some tasteful black accents, a blur of motion had tackled the large man. Thankfully the small stature of hers didn't make for a very good battering ram, so he stayed upright.

"Hey kiddo." He smiled, his voice slightly gravelly. On a thought he gave her a noogie, the twisted hair causing her to grimace and pull away. "Hey!" She pouted, trying to set it how it was before. "You know you don't have to do that so hard. I might be older but it still hurts."

"You'll live." He brushed it off. "After all, you're a huntress in training right?" She nodded. After all, she had been at Signal for a year now. He would know, being a teacher there of course. He shook his head. "Alright then, let's go inside and see your siblings."

Siblings. That word echoed in his mind still. To this day, Qrow was never quite sure why Taiyang had adopted. He had seemed quite busy and altogether quite happy with the two girls that he already had. That, and the burden of being a single parent would only increase with a mouth to feed. Yet something within his heart had somehow compelled him to do it. Not that he was saying it was wrong for him to do so, but he didn't understand why at the time.

The child was an enigma, he thought to himself as he walked in through the door. There was Yang, the eldest, currently locked in a stalemate with the adopted one in a versus round of Soaring Ninja: Path to the Eldest. A boy, actually. Maybe that was the reason that Taiyang got him. But that was too shallow. After all, he could have chosen one from nearby centers. But why from Mistral? A Faunus, too? And not to push the acts of one's family onto the children, his history?

Maybe he was looking far too into it. Probably being a bit too obvious as well, he had caught his attention. He paused the game, bringing a shout from his sister who had been in a middle of a five hit combo before he turned her around. Greetings similar to the one he had given Ruby were given, but with less noogie. He had learned the hair lesson with Yang long ago.

And that left the adoptee. He should stop calling him that in his head. Dust, he had thought they were more familiar than that. Onyx, that was his name. Legally Onyx Blackbourne, however his student papers read as Onyx Xiao Long. It was an odd combination, but it felt more comfortable to have a sister at least in name apparently. It was almost strange, to look at him. One might think that he might have caught on to the family trend of bright red, yellow and oranges, but apparently he had a style more akin to Qrow's. Grey hair with long bangs going to about neck length in the back, green eyes and slightly pale skin, which caused him and Ruby to seem more related by blood than the reality. Likewise gray and black colors garbed the rest of his body, from the shirt which zipped up around the neck in an alternating black and grey to the black sweats with a long gray stripe down each outer side. An addition of black hiking boots made him appear almost monochrome, if that was the word for it. He noted the addition of armor on his shoulders and forearms, lightweight pieces of metal meant to allow more ease of movement compared to tanking blows. Was he planning on going out for some training?

"Sup kid." He greeted to Onyx. He watched him smile, albeit a tiny bit awkwardly. "Heya Uncle Qrow." His ears twitched slightly. "How's Signal?"

"Same old, same old." Qrow shook his hands in a grand arc as though dismissing the issue. "Grading papers, shutting down for the summer. Nothing you'd care about probably." Onyx nodded in agreement. Qrow paused for a minute. "Tell you what." He began. "I'm gonna go have a talk with Taiyang, we'll catch up later. K? You look busy anyway." Onyx began to protest, but in a burst of speed Ruby had suddenly appeared at his controller and unpaused the match, Yang resuming her combo. When had she gotten back there?

"K. That's fine. I need some practice in anyway." Onyx said. Trotting up to his room, he heard the call of "Make sure not to stay out too late, you know how Grimm are. I trust you to stay safe."

"Got it, got it."

* * *

Onyx wasn't an idiot.

He knew he was wanted. He had no delusions that he was some sort of Cinderella boy that was mistreated by his family. Quite the opposite. He had a loving foster family, and two awesome siblings that he never would have had should he still be in Mistral. But that was the thing. They were foster family. No matter how much he loved them or they loved him, it would never change where he came from.

Liars. Murderers. Thieves.

He was happy to say that he hadn't met the worst of racists in his lifetime, but many prejudices had been used against him and his race. The worst thing was, they were right in his case.

The memories were fuzzy, but his childhood...was not good. Poverty, yelling, the whole shebang. Then, one day, an officer came in and his mother had broke down crying. A shooting, they had said. Flash forward a few weeks later and Onyx suddenly found himself utterly alone in the world, his mother in prison for grand theft after attempting a robbery on a store to pay rent.

It was bad, thinking about that in his head. It was always a fear in his head, that he would turn out like them. He didn't want that. So instead, he had followed another path. It had been when he met Taiyang, on that day. Not to be cheesy, but he really had been the sun for him. He had shown him another path he could take on life, another role he could choose. Be a huntsman, defend the weak and powerless. It resounded within his soul, a new goal that had set the fires of passion.

He would like to say he took to it like a fish to water, but to be honest? He wasn't great. He was no super slugger like Yang, nor did he have the odd utility and accuracy of Ruby's sniping skills. What he did have, was good study habits. Maybe not much alone, but at least it helped him with theory. Tactics when facing certain types of Grimm and whatnot. While he couldn't say that he was some sort of all knowing god, it at least made up partially where his combat skills left something to be desired.

He paused, realizing that in his thought he had walked a ways away from the house. Very far away, in fact. Ah well, he knew the woods like the back of his hand. He could always find his way back. Anyways, he should get some practice in, like his Uncle had mentioned.

From the sides of his belt, each held by a single holster, was his prized babies. True beauties, both of them. Admittedly, also some of the few color he had in his outfit. Punk, and Poetry. Admittedly he hadn't named them himself, that was the supposed slogan behind the model. He had made it himself however, with some help from Ruby. Although the original model had been for magnums, he had repurposed it for a pair of dark green revolvers, each shining with a luster from loving polish. He wasn't a freak about his weapons like a certain redhead, but he wasn't a slacker about it either. Unfolding them, either manually or with the slight push of a lever, made them expand into their melee form, a pair of warfans with a feathered edge. Poetry a light sea blue, Punk a deep red. The setting of the colors on the metal had taken forever, Onyx remembered. Combining the outer edges of the two caused a loud grating sound to sound, not unlike the gears of his Uncle's scythe, as they combined and resized, becoming perhaps the world's most unnecessarily large folding fan. About 2 meters at full extension from side to side, he mostly used it as a club in this state, for bashing heads in and the such. He found it easier to use when they were separate anyways.

Done admiring himself for the moment, he disconnected from those thoughts for a bit of target practice. Loading the individual bullets into the gun, he took a deep breath before releasing the safety and beginning. Two shots. Each grazed the side of a tree. Onyx would have grimaced a long time ago, but he was used to it. While he wasn't too bad of a shot now, holding a gun in each hand didn't exactly do wonders for his aim and stability. Even so, he had become used to it. Most grimm tended to be of a larger stature anyway so it shouldn't be a problem. He ran through a round in a couple of seconds, quickly reloading while running a distance, as though getting distance between himself and a target. He blasted another barrage of bullets into a thicker tree, a satisfying crunch coming from it. Apparently this one was a bit old. He reached to reload, but came up short. Whoops, seemed he had forgotten the rest of his ammo at home. Better go back and get some. Well, he still had his dust rounds, but that was for emergencies. He didn't need them, ever really.

"Growl…" from behind him.

Onyx cursed his luck. It was certainly the kind of thing that would hear him make a statement like that in his mind and put something like this in his way. He turned around slowly, ever so slowly. Large, imposing and angry, an Ursa Major huffed at him. Blazing red eyes and larger back spines showed it as an adult, not good news. He could take on maybe one, but he had a sinking feeling that if he just found Papa Bear then Mama Bear and her cubs would soon be coming. Weighing his options in that split second, he ran.

Tearing off into the forest, Onyx felt a sting as a branch whipped past him and cut him on the cheek, which actually hurt a lot more than one would think, even with aura. Crashing through the undergrowth like an idiotic hare, Onyx was all too aware of the indignant roar from behind him, followed by the not too far off echoes of it's twin. Yup, that was mama bear.

He could see the road now, far in the distance. From there he could just shout and Uncle Qrow would be able to get to him on the double. But in between there and here was an unavoidable clearing, followed by another quick dense section of trees. While he was grateful for the open area, that also meant the Grimm behind him had no obstructions.

"Roar!" From behind him. Way too close. He barreled into the clearing before taking a chance, turning around and firing a round of fire dust. A snarl emerged from the Ursa's mouth, but it continued even when he shot it again. A berserker rage? He began to run again but suddenly it was upon him again. It's claws dug deep into his aura and he yelled in pain as he tried to get out of its pin. He needed it to get off of him, he was already feeling spent. The world was turning black around him, and not just from fur.

"Get off of me! Urgh!" He yelled, in pain as it's claws tore into his sides. In an impressive display of strength he pushed it to the side and stood panting, about to draw his guns and finish the thing off. Shame though, he had forgotten about Mama Bear.

The piercing agony of having razor sharp claws tear through one's back raced through Onyx's mind until all he saw was nothing.

The dead tend to do that sort of thing.

* * *

"Disappointing. I had expected more." a deep male voice.

"Really? He's just a child. Be a bit more sensible." Female, lighthearted.

"If I was a sensible man, than I wouldn't be myself." another male, but of higher pitch.

"Now now, you two. Quiet. Soon he will awaken, and we'll see if this one's small excerpt can become a saga."

* * *

Onyx felt nothing.

It wasn't even the supposed nothingness of not performing a specific action, he could at least in those times feel around him. No, there was nothing here. No light, no sound, just himself. Yet somehow, he could see. He looked himself over. His body was completely healed, not a scratch from the forest. A quick inventory check also showed his guns at his side, with the surprising addition of a fresh supply of regular ammo. Who had done that, and when? Where was he? He attempted movement, but only managed to spin in a circle with nothing to push himself off of. He settled for the only other option.

"Hello? Is anyone there?"

"See? I told you. He's awake." The higher pitched male

"Yeah yeah, whatever. He's my responsibility so I'll deal with him." the female again.

"Damn right you will."

"Shut up for once, could ya?" She stalked off into the void.

"-nyone there?"

And suddenly there was. No flash of light or any dramatics, but suddenly before him was a rather interesting character. The only thing he could use to describe was...pink. It was almost like a motif. A small girl with shoulder length pink hair and a sleeveless white shirt with pink stripes on the side and a pair of pink jeans which in his honest opinion didn't look too great at the moment. Her pale skin complimented her outfit, sort of, and he noticed that her eyes matched her hair as well. How strange. He got that people tended to have their differences in style, but this was pushing it. Even for a place like Vale.

"Are you done ogling me now?" She asked, clearly bored. Onyx blushed and turned away, embarrassed. "Don't worry about it, I knew you meant no harm. After all, I can read your thoughts. He looked up again in surprise. Come on, don't be like that. Right now that'll be the least of your worries." She pulled out a piece of paper from seemingly nowhere. "Sorry, I had some notes for this. Anyways…" she began.

"You're dead." Onyx blinked. Okay, that made sense. Before the emotional impact could hit him on that however, she continued. "Before you freak out on the whole 'omigod, am I going to hell' bit, I need to explain a couple things to you." She took a deep breath. "See, you and I have actually interacted before. Not like this, though." He looked at her, confused.

"The easiest way to explain this is...I'm a god. Goddess. Jumpchan, Goddess of Heroes and Jumpchains." Goddess of heroes and...what? She sighed, apparently having read his thoughts on that one. "It's fine, you wouldn't have any idea what those are anyway. How to explain it...you ever read one of those books where they have multiple universes that they go through?" He nodded. While not quite a bibliophile, he did indeed have a sizable fiction stash in his room. "Well, they were right. There are multiple universes out there, although most people will never be able to do so. You've already done so, albeit that was a giant accident on my part." Onyx waited, still really confused.

"Reincarnation also happens a lot, by the way. So when you got demolished by an eighteen wheeler when crossing the street in your past life, by the way you had a past life, your soul kinda sorta got sucked through a hole in the universe to this one instead of the afterlife you should have gone to. You became bit of an anomaly and fate thus conspired to keep you close to somebody important people, keep tabs. My bad. Now, normally…" She waved her hand and a rip in the black expanse tore open, revealing a cloud expanse. "I would send you to the afterlife of your choice. But, you've been interesting." She strided forward and bopped him on the nose. He frowned and wiped at it. "An element that never was supposed to exist. That happens a lot, very common actually, but you never got to do anything. A story cut short. I don't like that. See, I like to consider myself an entertainer, along with a group of friends of mine. So, I thought to myself…" she paused for dramatic effect.

"What if I hit the 'continue' button on this story? That's why I'm offering you the position of Jumper." She waited, as though expecting a response. Onyx blinked.

"...What the heck is a Jumper supposed to be?" He was barely following this convoluted conversation as is. Jumpchan sighed.

"Right, you don't know that. Basically, I have a power called "Jumpchain". Hence the name, by the way. Through my own creations, and the efforts of Chainmakers, I can send you across dimensions. The catch though is, you need to be entertaining to me while also surviving the time you spend there, normally ten years. On the bright side, you get to keep what you gain along the way into the next world. I'll even throw an interdimensional warehouse into the deal. How about it?" She was clearly looking for a move on.

Onyx tried to digest this. Basically, she had the power to move people from dimension to dimension somehow. But he wanted to stay right here! She seemed to know what he was thinking again. Actually, scratch the seemed bit. She was probably still reading his mind.

"Alright, fine. You know what? I'll throw in a deal. Do a set amount of jumps for me, and I'll send you back here for a while through the Chain that was made for this world. Is that a good incentive bonus." He nodded. "I'll take that." He said confidently. "As long as I can see my family again...and not be dead, of course." She seemed to take his answer in before nodding to herself.

"In that case…" the black world suddenly ripped apart and they were far above the sky, looking down at a bright and color planet of rich green and blue. Strange animals flew through the air below that he could not make out properly.

"Welcome to Jump Number One. The World of Pokemon!"


	2. Chapter 2: The Beginning

"Wow, she's really getting into it." The younger male.

"It's her job." The deeper one. "And yours is to be quiet. Not all this sidelines talk. Since when were you this talkative all the time?"

"Since I made the multi-dimension link to Fanfiction." A snarky response.

"Damn...since when?"

"The beginning. I thought it would just be a one shot, but this is great!"

"Urgh, this is too much headache for me. I'm going back to the studio."

* * *

"...Pokewhat?" Onyx asked. While most people would probably know what the heck she was talking about, he wasn't them. She shook her head as though to dismiss it.

"Magic animals that fight to the death for their trainers amusement." Onyx blanched in horror. "Okay, it almost never gets that brutal. Think of it more as a combination between a professional adventurer, sports manager and animal tamer at the same time." That was easier on his conscience.

"Alright, since this is your first time here, I'll be deciding most of this stuff." A list of words suddenly appeared on..nothing, in fact. It didn't seem to exist anywhere in the physical plane, so much as directly in his mind. Trying to comprehend it game Onyx a massive headache. "Yeah, don't try doing that. Attempting to comprehend the existence of a language that defies both all natural laws and warps causality effects freely will send you on the fast track to cuckoo town." Suddenly she had a die in her hand, which she threw in the air before catching. "Would have rolled it, but we're in the air right now. Anyways, starting age is twelve…" Just as she had with the die she flipped a coin. "Heads. Still a guy for now."

"Wait, what does that even mea-" he was cut off by a finger to the lips. "Shh! I'm not done yet. Just watch, you'll understand easier that way then if I tried to go through it with you step by step. Anyways, I'm thinking you could go for some drawbacks. I'm no sadist but...what's life without a little spice?" She grinned. "Let's see, we'll go with the Hunted and Swarmed drawbacks. Yeah, that doesn't sound too bad. Now, perks. Tell me kid, what can you do? I mean, I already know, but I want it from you."

He relayed to her his budding repertoire. She seemed to mull this over for a brief moment. "Hmm, I should have expected as much from someone in your upbringing. You aren't great, but I can work with this. Need you to survive if I'm going to stay entertained after all…" She seemed to mumble to herself for a bit before coming back to reality. "Let's see here...alright! We'll spend most of your points here on some end tier abilities and the rest on an item fund. As for what...well, I'm not spoiling it. You'll see in a bit. Or well, twelve years. Whichever seems better for you." Onyx finally broke of his reservedness.

"What does that even mean-" suddenly he was falling towards the world below at breakneck speed.

"At least try to answer my questions for once, goddamit!

* * *

"Alright, that's the beginning business out of the way." Jumpchan mumbled to herself as she stepped back into the black before pulling up a monitor which seemed to be rolling by at 20000x speed. Of course, she could see and comprehend each and every individual frame, but it was almost a waste to manipulate time for such a mundane purpose. Ah well, she wanted to get to the juicy bits quickly.

"So, what did you give the kid?" She looked behind her, to the source of the voice. Behind her floated a young teen with shaggy blue hair, dressed in a pair of black slacks and a brown hoodie. Maroon eyes seemed to be watching intently at the screen. "I'm seeing some sort of natural leadership skills, but that might just be his upbringing. I don't really think so though, considering he's like 7- wait, now he's 8- and living in the city doesn't seem that to me." He blinked, before pulling up a monitor and setting it to a timecode he had just witnessed that interested him. "Was this what I think it is, and not just some Gastly in the house?" It was a five second clip of an angry Onyx being sent to his room after using some rude language at his mother, followed by a low tremor throughout the room causing the dishes to rattle ever so slightly.

"Yup, it's exactly what you think." She replied, not taking her eyes off the screen. "I don't know why you're surprised, Egil. You looked at the chain, just as I did. Quicksilver didn't give many options, but then again it is the starting jump. That, and it's supposed to be focused more around the Pokemon than him. For now at least." He seemed to consider her words.

"Understandable. From what I'm looking at, you gave him Champ in the Making and Psionics?" She nodded. "Urgh, that's nasty. He'll still need to put in the work, but an upper limit that puts you on par with a creature that could have you match an angered Gardevoir is still pretty terrifying. Wait, what about the free for origin perk- wait nevermind he just started scaling that fence." Age eleven Onyx apparently didn't quite comprehend the concept of breaking and entering into private property to pet a Growlithe as a bad idea. "What are you doing with the rest of his funds?" Sensing that the fast forward was reaching a close, he materialized his seat of choice, a cushy bean bag, before settling down and expanding his screen to the size of a wall, setting the record up for when Coordinator came back. He definitely would be mad when he found out they had started without him, but less so if they already had film for him to work with.

"Item funds, and a little something for his starter. Hush now, it's starting."

The screen flickered to a panning view of Aspertia City, and Onyx's Pokemon Journey began.

* * *

Onyx Version was a normal kid. At least, that was what he had thought of himself. A kid who had grown up on the streets of Castelia City, he liked to think of himself as "wordly" due to being from a region's cultural hub. He knew better than that though. Stuff like that required leaving places behind, exploring the world for it's secrets and meeting others outside of your home. He had never really done that. Up until now, that was. He stared out into the city. At least, they called it a city. Honestly he couldn't really see it as such, due to his hometown. Maybe the qualifications for city were a lot looser than he thought.

"Cacnea?" a voice came from below him, making him look down. By his side was his "travel pokemon" as his parents had taken to calling him, Cacnea. In reality, the little guy was a product of his father's Cacturne and his mother's Lilligant, only a few months old. Of course, the maturing time of a pokemon tending to differ incredibly from humans, but at the moment the little guy was little more for looks. He wasn't even his, technically. Well, he would be as soon as he got his starter, the papers had already been put into the system for it, but still. He rubbed the cactus pokemon on its head, being sure to avoid his spines, before returning him back into his ball. That was enough exercise for now, and it would be better to keep him in the ball for now. Better that than to have a misunderstanding and not get a starter. What was the name of the girl he was supposed to meet? Brielle? Buttersworth? No, definitely not. He pulled his pokegear out of his pocket, adjusting his red cap so that it blocked the sun's rays from the screen. Bianca. Yep, that was it. And supposedly he was to meet her nearby. He switching to his Pokegear's camera app to check himself out real quick.

Unbeknownst to Onyx he still carried the same haircut that he had wore twelve years ago, albeit the slightest bit shorter. While almost identical to that other timeline, today he was wearing a pair of gray hiking pants with red running shoes and a blue zip up jacket. Slung across his back was a yellow bag filled with the rest of his gear. Messing with his hair for a second, he put his 'gear away before heading deeper into town. Where was she anyway? He could try and identify her based on appearance, but that wouldn't help very much. As he paced around, he caught the snippet of a conversation.

"...The lookout is one of Aspertia's most famous spots!" Said a rather scruffy looking boy in red to his friend, another boy. However, the second one was wearing blue and notably a cap on his head. He got style points in Onyx's mind. So someone else was looking for Bianca as well? Silently, he began to follow them.

Trailing behind them from a distance he tuned out their small talk as they moved through the streets, eventually going up a long flight of stairs. Thankfully Onyx was used to this kind of thing, so he was able to maintain some sort of quiet. Avoiding the dead leaves to stop any kind of sound was kind of hard though. Eventually he reached the top, finding that they had already engaged what seemed to be Bianca in a conversation.

"Right then, time to choose your pokemon!" She seemed to have already begun with the boy in blue. Seems that in his need for stealth he had burned more time than he thought. Bummer. After a silent moment of consideration, the boy grabbed the pokeball labeled with a droplet of water from the glass container and threw it into the air. "I choose you!" with a yell, the Oshawott materialized. Rather generic, Onyx thought, but that was to be expected. It was what they had come for anyway, they had been promised starters and they had gotten them. Sensing his moment, he closed his distance.

"Mrs. Bianca?" She jumped, slightly startled at the sudden entrance. "Hi, I'm Onyx. I'm here to get my Pokemon?" She seemed to collect herself as she laughed. "Sorry about that, you really spooked me! Onyx, right? Sorry for making you come all the way out here, normally the trip would have been easier on you just going to the lab but I was already out when we got your request. Still, rather good of you to get out here on foot. You'll need to get used to it. Come on now, take a pick!" He reached his hand in.

Suddenly the whole world spun and he found himself on the ground, kneeling before a tiny orange pig. Huh? When had he gotten here? Did he just blank out from the pressure of choosing? The creature seemed to sniff him before nuzzling his side and attempting to curl into his lap. When that didn't work, it oinked at him indignantly. He picked the little thing with both hands, watching a little bit of smoke come from its nose as it snorted. Tepig, huh?

"You're actually really cute." Onyx mumbled. The Tepig looked in his eyes, as though searching for something again, apparently finding what he wanted. "Tep." It went. He chuckled a little. "So, you want to be my friend?" He questioned it. It nodded as best as it could in his arms. "Alright then, awesome!"

A sound of a high pitched whine caused him to turn around. Before him was the other boy's Oshawott, while the one in red had thrown out his pokeball to reveal his pokemon. A Snivy, huh? Wonder how he got that one without it being from the professor. Watching the two duke it out in a decidedly unimpressive and one sided battle from the way the Snivy was taking hits, he turned back to Bianca. "So um...who are those guys?" He asked. Tepig cocked his head at her too, as though he was also curious.

"Oh, you didn't know?" She asked. However, she continued speaking, seemingly a rhetorical question. "The one in blue is Nate and his friend there is Hugh. I came here to give Nate his pokemon, which I'm sure you're partially aware of already." As she ended her sentence the Snivy was sent flying, skidding to a stop. Clearly it was done for the day. "Secretly, I think that Nate is already a better trainer than Hugh. You don't beat a guy on your first battle that easy, weak pokemon or not. Oh I almost forgot!" She exclaimed, suddenly with more energy. She fished out a small memo, which she looked over quickly before putting it away.

"Sorry, I had to refresh my memory on something." She explained. Anyways, while I normally would offer you a pokedex to help out with research, Professor Juniper apparently already sent it ahead. Have you checked into the pokemon center yet?"

"No." Onyx answered rather blandly. "Is there a reason I should?"

"Well, besides the obvious of getting a place to stay, she sent a package with your name on it containing your pokedex. Along with a couple of other things, apparently. Not sure what though." She shook her head. "Anyways, gotta ask! You giving that little guy a nickname?"

Onyx looked down at the orange pig next to him, who was now looking at him as well. What would be a good name? Porker was just insulting. Piggy wasn't all that great to be honest. Roadhog sounded rather cool, but this guy didn't seem all that aggressive and intimidating. What to do...the Tepig snuffled, sending a little bit of smoke into the air. Suddenly, it clicked. It might be a little cutesy, but it worked. "His name is Snuffles. Do you like that name little guy?" He picked it up again, shaking it playfully. It seemed to give a nod again, so he smiled. "Anyways, thank you so much miss. If you'll excuse me, I'm going to go pick up that package now…" He began to back away awkwardly. She seemed to understand however.

"Oh no, it's fine. I don't mind. I was planning to show Nate around to some key places since he seems kind of...sheltered. About pokemon, I mean. Despite that battle." That was awkward, but alright. Strange that he didn't know locations in his own town.

A good hour later he was checked into the Aspertia Pokemon Center, currently resting in a single bedroom space which he had been allotted. How the government was able to keep these places running off of almost complete charity he had no idea, but he suspected it mostly had to do with higher end trainers taking on what essentially were living calamities with little to no pay for their actions. Yeah, probably a lot of it. He hadn't had much to put down, only having set his bag on the ground next to his bed. There hadn't been a need to unpack it, so that was fine. Oh right, he should probably go downstairs and grab that package.

He closes his door behind him, clicking it shut after checking he still had the card key before sliding up to the front desk. Aside from the Nurse Joy, a man wearing a blue uniform seemed to be managing some sort of computer to the side. The standard package delivery system uniform, if it carried over from Castelia. Or if you really wanted to go with their official name "Mystery Gift".

"Uh, hello?" He questioned, trying to get the man's attention. He looked up from his computer, seemingly impassive. "I was told that I have a package here with my name on it. It'd be for Onyx Version?'" The man didn't even bother answering him and instead searched his name into the database. Onyx felt a bit miffed, but said nothing. After a few more seconds he reached under the desk and pulled out a surprisingly large package from the bottom. "Here you go." Struggling to hold it, Onyx lugged it back to his door and after a few fumbled attempts managed to get back into his room.

Shutting the door, he set the box onto his bed before releasing his two partners. Snuffles appeared with a cheer, looking around at it's new surroundings before jumping up onto a bed and snuggling into it. His heart almost melted at it, he had to admit. Cacnea, ever the observant one, looked him up and down before deciding he was alright and heading over to a chair where he was closer to the light bulb, apparently preferring it there. "Tell you what," Onyx told that Cacnea, "I think that you should get a proper name since Snuffles over there already has one. You're certainly part enough of the family to deserve one. Does Spines sound too corny?" The cactus debated before shaking its head negative. "Spines it is then. Can you help me with this package? I don't have a knife and I don't feel like spending five minutes tearing away at it." The cactus came over to him and with the spines on it's arms sliced the duct tape away. Snuffles perked up, now interested in the package. Onyx opened the box.

On top of the stuff, was exactly what he expected. A brand new pokedex, awaiting a sync with identification. That was about all he expected. But after that, he found a bit more than he bargained for, and then some. Some pokeballs and potions, okay, but fifty thousand pokedollars in cash? Was this the heist of some sort of bank robbery? He gently put the notes aside and continued digging. A very compact piece of metal was revealed to be one of the latest collapsible bikes, along with a rebreather user by water type specialists normally. A pair of sunglasses he found after a moment's inspections were a Hypervisor, which normally went for prices he didn't even want to think of. An addition of a laptop and a stack of CD's which by the looks of it were for the standard Hidden Machine skills was nice, but who would send him this? Why would Professor Juniper invest so much?

Pulling more objects from the box, Onyx began to feel an odd sense of dread mixed with deja vu. A set of clothes, rather monochrome, was mixed with some sort of metal protectors folded up neat with themselves. Who would need that kind of gear? A riot squad or something? It looked nice though. A set of multiple novels was buried underneath more currency, this one however of a kind that he couldn't identify except for the words "lien" and the feeling that somehow this was also an incredible amount of money. A "dust" kit seemed to be there as well, which appeared to be some form of crystal. It was all sorts of incredibly familiar, but he couldn't figure out why.

Finally reaching the bottom of the box, he stopped, before rubbing his eyes. Yep, still there. Slowly now, pick the safest item. He settled on a white piece of metal, which seemed to extend into some sort of contraption which looked sort of like his pokegear. Alright then. Setting that aside, he gingerly picked up two pieces of long metal before putting them down very quickly. There was nothing that could possibly be besides a gun. Almost nobody carried those, let along had a liscense these days. Finally, the piece of plastic he had almost missed. It was a simple looking ID. Relieved, he figured it belonged to whoever's package this really was, and it was all just a misunderstanding. "Vale ID." It read. Where the picture would be, it had a picture of a person who almost looked exactly like him, hairstyle and all. It was a bit older though, he noticed. The name read…

"Onyx Blackbourne." He mumbled. "Thats...my name…" No it isn't. Yes it is. What? How was this possible? He was someone else? What happened? How? He searched through his memories, everything coming together and breaking apart at once. His head was fire and he couldn't make heads or tails of it. "Who am I…" He mumbled. "Who am I!" He yelled, his two companions coming closer in alarm but not enough into touching range. He continued his rant towards himself, unaware of what was happening around him.

* * *

"You know, that was really mean." That was Coordinator, now back from the studio after a short break. He brushed his light purple bangs out of his hair. Like his two compatriots his chosen attire was also decidedly of a single style, a button down dark purple shirt and black dress pants giving him the look that he was decidedly trying be somewhat formal. It was kind of ruined however by its slight wrinkles and his lack of shoes, revealing cotton socks underneath.

"I have no idea what you could possibly be talking about." Jumpchan replied, munching on a half eaten bowl of popcorn. "I made things interesting."

"What you did was a half baked cliche. Version, really? You couldn't be bothered to warp reality for at least a slightly more creative last name? And then his unveiling, come on. Person gets a box full of their past life, aren't you more creative than that? Our role is to make it interesting, not predictable. If you can't do that then just manage negotiations and leave it to me or Egil." Coordinator was apparently not impressed.

"Lay off her, man." Egil reached across to swipe some popcorn from Jumpchan's bowl. He was rewarded with only half a handful, the rest was scorched by pink fire. "It's sufficient for now, at least. Give him a few minutes, then send him a note or something. That way he'll recall enough that he doesn't start causing mayhem. Maybe give him a goal or something, I don't know?" He popped the snack into his mouth, relaxing back into his bean bag which had gotten a bit lumpy by this point. "You might want to detail him in about what those drawbacks you picked for him mean, too. I would hate to be walking in blind to that. He probably won't have much time to deal with it either."

"Fine, fine, I will."

"Sure you will. Just don't mess up."


	3. Chapter 3: Aspertia Gym

"Coordinator?" That was Jumpchan.

"Hmm?"

"You still paying attention? I think he's back to at least semi consciousness. I'm sending him the message."

"Alright then, rolling in three…"

"You don't need to do that you know, Egil already has a link up."

"Mmhmm." Through a mouthful of popcorn the blue haired man spoke.

"Whatever. We'll have two to work with. Two...one…"

* * *

Onyx, around ten-ish minutes later had finally calmed down to a certain degree. While not quite mentally settled, he had at least lowered from the full on mental crisis he had been having. Things weren't settling together though. Giving himself the moment to clear his head had brought him from the edge, but it didn't bring it all back in. He was Onyx, the kid with plans of travelling Unova to learn more about himself. But at the same time, he was also the huntsman in training to defend against creatures which threaten humanity's existence. Was he both? Neither? Was any of what he had done real? It didn't feel false. A flicker of movement. What was that? He followed it and looked into the box, finding a note that certainly wasn't there. He opened it.

There was nothing on the paper. Instead, a voice began to speak directly into his head. "Heya Onyx! Remember me?" As it spoke, words appeared onto the sheet. He knew that voice. Twelve years ago...or had it just happened? "Don't bother thinking about it too hard, it's both. Technically, at least. I mean, your memory as 'Onyx Blackbourne' ends there. But at the same time, you've been Onyx Version for the past twelve years while simultaneously still being yourself. You just didn't realize it." That made...absolutely no sense. She apparently got that it wasn't getting through to him based on her facial expression.

"Of course I did, I don't need to read minds to see your face. Look, think of it this way. How hard do you think it is to just drop a guy into a universe and just say 'have fun'? While it is an option, which I often call 'Drop-In', often it's easier to set you up with a background instead. It not only eases you into it so you aren't going blind, but it also sets you up with different discounts depending on your choice."

"What choices? You didn't exactly give me any." Onyx replied. That was true, she had kind of let it run on autopilot in the sense of taking any choice away from him.

"Well yeah, that was because it's your first jump. That way you could see how it's done before you do it yourself. Anyways, since I didn't exactly put it in the box, felt I should mention that you might want to look up a psychic sometime in your future. Trust me, it'll be worth it. Besides that though...there some things that you need to know." Her face turned serious.

"There's a few things I need you to be aware of. Firstly, the standard time you would spend in each world is ten years. That is, unless you die during that time in which case you'll be sent back to your homeworld with everything you've gained, never to return here again. However, I'm an entertainer." She gestured grandly as though to emphasize. "At least, I like to think I am. As such, I'm offering you an alternative. Conquer the Pokemon league, beat out your Drawbacks and do a few other hidden objectives and I'll let you leave early. Does that sound fair?" He wasn't quite sure if it was or wasn't, so he nodded. "I suppose so, you aren't giving me many other options."

"Good. Would hate to have to get nasty about it. Anyways, Drawbacks. That's a capital D by the way. See, Drawbacks are another necessary part of the little show we run here. Not only does it provide me with more entertainment, it also gives you more materials to work with when choosing your abilities. Trust me, you'll come to learn that the risk is worth the reward. But uh...let's just say that you needed some challenges, so I gave you two. One you won't need to worry about, it's called Swarmed. Basically every once in awhile a Zubat swarm will come after you and you will need to fend them off. Standard stuff, many people encounter situations like that anyway. As for the other, you want to know about that more probably. You know about Legendary Pokemon, right?"

"Yeah. Like from the myths?" Onyx questioned. "I used to always ask my mom to read me stories about the Musketeer Trio."

"On the nose. Long story short, I gave you Hunted. Basically, that means if a certain legendary catches wind of you, they will begin to actively search you out with the risk of eradicating you. Of course, if you can prove to them that you're not worth going after then they might stop. I suggest lots and lots of heavy armor if you can't figure out a way to protect yourself from them. I'd give you...maybe six months before they find you anyway? I might be overshooting it. Anyway, I suggest you go over to that 'Trainer School'. You know it's a gym too? Not you give you a big head or anything, but I think that you can handle it if you play it smart. Anyways, I'm afraid that's all the time I have. Toodles!" The paper exploded into pink fire and Onyx dropped it, watching it slowly turn to ashes. Only now that he was done did he realize that somehow it had been transmitting an image of the girl herself into his head, so he might as well have been having a real conversation. It probably looked like he had completely lost it to Snuffles and Spine though.

"Alright, you two." He addressed the duo. "Time for a bit of training."

* * *

"You do get that this kid is going to get clobbered, right?" Egil mumbled, half asleep at Jumpchan who was currently browsing a shopping site for anything she might want to add to her wardrobe. "Try as he might, I doubt he'll be able to take down whoever you're throwing at him. Who is it exactly, anyway? I don't feel like checking."

"It's a surprise~." Jumpchan replied in a sing-song voice. "Don't worry about it anyways. Guys like him tend to run into stuff to deal with their troubles naturally. Considering how he already managed to meet Nate and Hugh when originally I had expected them to barely miss each other goes to show how things are going to be for him."

"You mean that you plan on watching him get through this by the skin of his teeth." Coordinator deadpanned from the corner. No longer watching the screen at the moment, he was now taking the original footage from both Egil and his own and compiling it into a short sequence. It wasn't much, but it could go for a good trailer if launched into the GodStream. Nah, nobody was on at this hour, not even the late nighters. It'd be better to launch at a more active time, probably tomorrow.

"Other gods…" He mumbled under his breath. "Can't be bothered to stay up past three A.M unless they're at a party. Even with time manipulation."

* * *

The next day, Onyx stood outside a building marked as the Aspertia Gym. Apparently operated by a dude called Cheren, a gym leader who apparently went by the moniker of "The one who seeks the right path", it appeared to apparently serve dual functions as both school and gym. At least, that's what he could tell based on the outside postings and what seemed to be noise from the back, which could only be accessed from the inside. He stepped into the building.

Surprisingly he didn't find much. Just a couple of kids sitting down at desks, either reading or doing some sort of study. Either this was a free period, or this was some weird kind of school. After a few moments, he asked one of the younger children there. "Excuse me, how can I get to the gym?"

The child turned around, seemingly not surprised at a stranger walking into the classroom. "That?" He questioned. "Don't you see the door?" Indeed, there was a rather obvious door at the back of the classroom. Murmuring his embarrassed thanks, he strode the the door.

Now that he could see the back in more detail, he found it to be rather plain. Mostly made of dirt, he found that there were two fields made for battling. Currently one was in use by a couple of kids with a Purrloin and Bidoof, but the other was empty. A gym attendant was currently standing off to the side, seemingly there to greet any who came in. He greeted Onyx as he came through. "Hey there kid!" He greeted boisterously. "Surprised to see another challenger within such a short amount of time. You know we had a challenger already yesterday? His name was Nate." Onyx's eyes widened. Already? Wow, Bianca was right on the dime about him. The attendant chuckled. "Seems that you know him. Anyways, you're here for Cheren, right? I'm sure you know, but he uses normal type attacks. That means that nothing he does is super effective, but there are many moves in that category. Watch out for his powerful attacks. I'll page him that he has a challenger, he'll be over shortly. For now, how about you head on over to the field?"

"I will, thanks." Onyx waved and strode past the still battling duo to one side of the field. From the opposite side of where he had entered he found another figure coming towards him. This figure must have been Cheren, he certainly seemed to fit the gym's theme with the schoolteachers uniform he was currently wearing. He seemed to have a case of bedhead though based on the long strand atop his head, or was that his style? He was cut from his thoughts by the gym leader.

"So, you're Onyx?" Cheren questioned from across the field. "Bianca told me about you in passing when she visited yesterday." He smiled. "Funny how it always happens in threes. Anyways, as you know I am the leader of this here Aspertia Gym. We'll hold a two on two pokemon battle. The challenger is reserved the right to switch out at any time. Are you ready?" He enlarged a ball from his belt.

"Won't be more than I am now, so let's do it!" Onyx said, putting on his game face. Truth to be told, he was incredibly nervous, but there was nothing he could do about it now. He had never really been in that heated of a battle, although he had ended up doing a few battles against the local wild pokemon yesterday with Snuffles and Spine. Whatever, he had no time to worry about it at the moment. "At your command!"

"I like your attitude! Very forward. Alright then, go Patrat!" he flung the ball and from it burst forth the crazy eyed rodent, sniffing the area around it before turning its eyes on him. That was his cue.

"Let's do it Snuffles!" Onyx yelled, throwing out the Fire Pig Pokemon in a flash of light. "Tep!" It yelled in a short battle cry, lowering it's head at the Patrat as though ready to charge.

Emotion seemed to dance across Cheren's face at the sight of the Tepig. "Ah, you have no idea how this makes me feel. You know I too once stood in your place. Even so, this is no place for mercy! Patrat, use Bite!" The rodent yelled its name before charging forward, it's teeth beginning to glow ever so slightly. Time to act.

"Snuffles! Hide yourself with Smokescreen!" Onyx commanded. Snorting out a cloud of thick gas, the pig quickly concealed itself within the attack. In the process the Patrat was obscured and began to emit sounds of distress.

"Patrat, get out of there! Towards my voice!" Cheren ordered. It was clear he didn't want to fight in Onyx's terrain. Understandable. Even so, Onyx wasn't making that easy. "Follow it up with a

"Don't let him, Snuffles! Tackle, full force!" The fire type bounded from within the screen, crashing into the Scout pokemon. The rodent rolled out of the smoke, slightly scuffed up but still able to fight. Seeing the smoke clear, Cheren continued on again.

"Alright then, Leer!" Huh, never thought someone could be that enthused about a move like that. The Patrat's eyes gleamed with a light, staring down Snuffles. "Now use Tackle as well!"

This was an easy one to counter. Probably. "Snuffles, Growl at em. Then Ember!" The pig turned at him, confused. Onyx paused. "...Do you not know how to use growl?" Snuffles nodded.

"Don't you forget about me!" Cheren yelled, just as Patrat crashed into the pig. He skidded a few feet, his fur now rather dusty from the field. "Don't let up Patrat, do it again!"

"Not again you won't! Defense Curl!" Now this one, Snuffles did know. Curling up into a ball, it was able to mitigate the damage from the next assault. "Get em, Snuffles!" Not really an order so much as a general idea. Even so, the Fire Pig snorted loudly before lowering it's head and beginning to charge. To his amazement a coating of flame began to surround Tepig before it crashed into the Patrat at full force. The two crashed to the ground and entered a melee, the Patrat Biting at whatever it could while Snuffles hammered at it with his little feet, whacking it with it's tail to reduce its defense. After about half a minute Snuffles emerged breathing hard, tired and covered in dust. The Patrat was lying still, apparently having been beaten into unconsciousness. Cheren stared blankly.

"Does your Tepig have a vicious streak?" Onyx smiled awkwardly, a bit freaked out himself. He walked over to the little guy and picked him up, holding him close for a minute. The small animal was warm to the touch and practically melted into his arms. He must have really given it his all, he thought. Not wanted to put him away just yet, he fumbled for his other pokeball.

"I'm switching since this guy is way too tired and I'm not heartless enough to put him through another round. That's alright according to the rules you stated before, right?" He questioned.

"That's correct." He threw out his second pokeball as well, releasing a Lillipup. The doglike creature looking around, fluffing out the fur on it's face slightly. "I'd say that would be a good choice as well. The health of your partner should always be the top concern, not things such as glory and battles." Wise words from a teacher, he supposed. Alright, back to business.

"Thanks for the compliment, but I don't plan on losing here. Come on out Spine!" That statement was slightly weakened by the fact that he had to lob the ball with Snuffles in one hand, or that he almost dropped it when it came back towards him. Spine the Cacnea looked back towards him curiously, before settling back in front of it. It's stance didn't change, but he could tell that it was sizing up the opponent. While it wasn't much of a battler, it had been trained by both its own and his parents to be a guard pokemon. Granted, that had been a total of two days worth of supposed training, but it at least knew how to assess threats. This time, he would take the initiative.

"Spine, Sand Attack!" He commanded. Without even bothering to nod it swiped its club shaped arms across the field, aiding it as an excess amount of dirt was flung towards the Lillipup. Most of caught in the dog's fur, but some got in it's eyes causing it to yowl and blink feverishly.

"It's just a bit of sand, Lillipup! Use Odor Sleuth and then Tackle!" Onyx cursed under his breath. No point on reducing its sight when it could rely on other senses. Only thing to do was offense. "Start using Growth, Then Poison Sting!" The Cactus Pokemon began to puff up, expanding with the increase of energy within it. Where it was absorbed from Onyx didn't know, nor did he really care. All he knew was that it made attacks more potent. From it's mouth Spine released a flurry of razor thin purple stings in a wide spray. While most missed, an annoying flaw in the attack, some stuck into the opposing Lillipup. Wincing, it continued its charge into Cacnea. The impact caused the Cacnea to grunt, but it's held it's ground.

"Your Lillipup might be the size of my Cacnea, but mine is over eleven times it's weight! You won't have any luck with knocking him over. He noted that it was now struggling in Cacnea's grip, the thorns pricking his sides. "And really, you decided to Tackle a living cactus?" Cheren looked away, apparently a bit embarrassed by the lapse in judgement. "Spine, Needle Arm!"

Spine's arm began to glow a bright green, spines lengthening before it slammed the captive dog with it's club-like limb. It was a bit like baseball, except a lot more brutal and probably a lot more inhumane. It struggled for a moment to get up before lowering itself back down, beaten. Cheren returned the tired pokemon back to it's ball, finishing the match. Spine turned back around, expectant. "Nice job, buddy." Onyx complimented. The pokemon wasn't the kind for being overpraised, but it took the compliment in stride as it was returned. Returning Snuffles back to his ball, because even though he was only around twenty pounds after a while his arms had began to get tired, he crossed to meet Cheren halfway.

"That was a good battle!" Cheren said with a smile. "Although, you should probably practice with your Pokemon a bit more. Don't think I didn't see what happened with your Tepig there. Snuffles, huh?" Embarrassed by both his momentary slip up and name choice Onyx turned to the side. "It's fine, really. You've just started a journey, you're bound to make mistakes. Also, I think it's a cute name. Anyways, you've earned this. The Basic Badge!" He produced a badge, handing it to Onyx. Pulling out his official badge case, which came with his Trainer ID, he set it into the plush cushioning before closing it shut.

"Along with that, let me give you a couple of things. First, this." He pulled a small white ™ from seemingly nowhere and handed it over to Onyx. "That's the TM for Work Up. Also, would you mind if I saw your pokegear for a second?" Onyx lent it to him, stowing away the token gift as Cheren fiddled with it. He handed it back. "There, my number's in. I added in Bianca's as well since I saw you didn't have it. If you ever have any questions don't feel bad about giving a shout. Especially if it's about your Tepig. I'll have you know that my starter was one as well, I'd be happy to give you advice about raising it."

"Alright then, I suppose I will. Thank you so much!" He turned and exited at a decent pace, striding through the class as though it didn't exist before stepping out into the street again. Only from there did he let his composure fall completely. "I did it! Yes!"

* * *

"First gym battle, hmm?" Egil thought aloud, going over the highlights of the last battle. "He did fairly decent, considering that he had only been battling for a day. Against only wild pokemon, at that."

"To be honest, it's not too surprising." Jumpchan responded, now watching upside for no apparent reason. "I mean, most beginning trainers don't have much experience before fighting. Still, it was pretty clear that Cheren was holding back. If he had been doing it as his second gym badge, he probably wouldn't have won. Higher, it would have been a slaughter."

"He is inexperienced. That's a given." Coordinator was now slacking a bit, reading a novel. "I liked his strategy though, with his Cacnea's weight. Even so, he'll need to familiarize himself with his Pokemon a bit more if he doesn't want to avoid the pain and embarrassment of the first round."

"Yeah, he'll need to do some fast growing. I have a feeling that he's going to be attracting some attention soon. Probably not the good kind." Jumpchan responded in kind.

Coordinator looked up from his book. "What exactly do you mean by that? Call me dense, but for a world based around a children's game there is certainly much danger for the unprepared."

She fixed him with a deadpan look. "You do remember that we're not the only space warping creatures in this universe? And that while the one's here aren't as powerful, they can sense that kind of thing?"

The gears in his head began to turn. "Oh."

"Yep."


	4. Chapter 4: Bronze and a Lack of Poison

Now on the road once more, Onyx tread down the path he knew led back to Virbank City, Route 20. To be honest, it was a nice walk. If he kept to the main path he could avoid most wild Pokemon, and those that did approach got a nice and swift Needle Arm to the sides. Not to say that Snuffles wasn't doing his fair share of the work, but by and far Spine was living up to his job as the guard dog. So to speak, seeing as he wasn't really a dog, but nevertheless he had gone into the grass a couple of times without explanation only to be followed by a few shouts and coming back, sometimes with a few scratches. Onyx began to wonder if the Cacnea had perhaps been training longer than it had let on. Or was this purely ability?

At the moment the Cactus pokemon traveled at his side, enjoying the sunlight as it waddled along on its stubby legs. Due to this he couldn't exactly run, but he had no rush so it was no matter. Snuffles was draped across his left shoulder dozing, a bit like a cat might but it was a bit too portly to manage the look. Even so it was quite content, making little happy sounds every so often. Not wanting to disturb the creature, Onyx made sure not to make any unnecessary movements.

Upon leaving Aspertia he had briefly considered visiting Flocessy Town, but had decided against it. He had already passed through it on the way here, albeit briefly, so he had no reason in particular to go and see the sights again. Been there, done that and all. If he was honest with himself, it was also because he couldn't give less of a hoot about a ranch or whatever. Approaching the end of the route he drew his wits about him as he passed through the gate, moving into Virbank again. He took in the scenery once more.

"The City of Falling Fog and Rising Stars?" Onyx mumbled to himself, reading the wording of a sign that he had missed on his way through. "That's a little pretentious." Recalling both Snuffles and Spine, he pulled out his map. While he could just go ahead and charge at the Gym Leader, since he had already located their location, he didn't want to just yet. No, he was still lacking. Just a bit more experience, that was all. He could probably figure out what he was lacking in nearby. He began to walk.

Thankfully, Onyx was already aware of a place nearby which could provide him with what he desired. The Virbank Complex was known for both supplying power to the city which it drew its name from, along with being in abundance of wild pokemon. Often trainers would be allowed within the grounds under the pretense of 'firing up the workers' when in reality it was mostly to dwindle down the population of pokemon which could never be eradicated no matter how much pest control they used. Or, that's what he had heard when he had stopped at a corner to grab a coffee a few days ago. Why not try it out?

Due to the only real direction that Onyx needed to go was "south", he soon found the entrance to the Complex. Granted, he wouldn't have needed it either since it was easy to see the buildings within, but it was no matter. As he crossed in he noted a rather portly man off to the side eyeing him. Was he supposed to be security? He passed him for a few feet before the man suddenly exclaimed. "You're a trainer, right?"

Onyx turned. "Actually, yes. Why? Am I not allowed here or something?" He questioned.

The man shook his head enthusiastically. "Oh no, nothing like that. Actually, I was wondering if you could do me a favor. Recently a certain pokemon has come into the Complex that's not native and causing a disturbance among the one's that live here. People haven't been able to take a look at it, save for the fact that it's circular. Capture it and I'll be sure to give you a reward."

A bounty, huh. It sounded interesting. He needed a new person in his party, anyway. "I'll keep it in mind." He replied, walking further into the Complex. It seemed rather quiet at the moment, not much going on at the current time. From what he could observe, most of the workers were currently out on break or their Pokemon had been beaten out by some other trainer who was there before him. A Youngster that hadn't been from there had challenged him, but his combination of a Pidove and a Pidgey hadn't exactly been enthralling battle.

Just as he had begun to lose interest in the place, he heard it. The scrape of metal, okay. There were many tools around. But the gear looking pokemon that floated through an open window, apparently just barely fitting due to the sounds issued not so much. "Zor?" It turned around curiously. Onyx pulled out his Pokedex.

"A Bronzor, huh? This guy isn't from here. Alright, Snuffles!" He threw out the pokeball which contained the Fire Pig Pokemon. "Ember!" Snuffles drew in it's breath before releasing a thin stream of fire at the floating disk.

"Bronz!" It exclaimed, moving out of the way. It glared at him before it's body began to shine brightly before taking on a decidedly thicker tone. Then it's eyes began to glow. On cue, Snuffles rose up in the air before being smacked against a nearby wall. It sunk to the ground, hurt.

"Snuffles! Careful, that thing has psychic abilities. Use Smog, it won't be able to see you!" It began to puff out a considerable amount of smoke from it's nose, filling the immediate area. Onyx backed off, knowing that inhaling it wouldn't do good for his health. The attack would not do much against the Steel type, but it would serve his purposes. "Now Tackle!" Snuffles dove from the smog, charging up fast towards the Bronze Pokemon. As though predicting this, it's eyes flashed green and suddenly the Tepig fell to the ground, as though it had lost all Strength. Another flash and it had been slammed into the wall again. Hard.

"Tepig, come on! Why can't you Tackle?" It rose again, labored. Try as it might, every time it's muscles moved to do it the movement simply failed to happen. Too late, Onyx realized it as another move from the psychic type. "Bron." It deadpanned, sending a psychedelic shock of color at Snuffles. A Psywave attack, one it couldn't dodge. The Tepig took the attack head on, collapsing. Onyx stopped cold. There his starter lay, unmoving. It was his fault, only. He should have realized what was going on. Even if he had another pokemon, that didn't forgive that he had caused this. He was the one to blame. What was he thinking, with that strategy? He had failed his partner. Seeing the trainer in distress, the Bronzor began to float away.

Onyx snapped up with a heart shaking glare. "You're. Not. Going. Anywhere." The Bronzor began to shout and exclaim in surprise as he locked eyes with it. Almost as though he was holding it in place with sheer emotion. "Snuffles!" He yelled, getting the tiny pig's attention. "Get up! You're not done, right?" It struggled and fell to it's side. "I asked you if you were done! I'm not letting you quit here! Come on!" Something welled from deep inside of him and broke out, if only in a whisper.

"I believe in you."

A flash, followed by a bright light. The beaten Tepig began to glow and then enlarge, rising up to it's full size and continuing upward to a new size. Stopping at around half his height, it stared down its opponent. "Pignite…" The Bronzor locked eyes with the newly minted Pignite before charging at it. Onyx saw the opportunity.

"Snuffles! Flame Charge!" The now larger pokemon ran at the metal disk and wreathed itself in flames, crashing into it at full force. It flew back, dazed and scorched. "Nice one buddy! Now it's my turn!" From his bag he produced a single Pokeball and enlarged it within his hand. "Go!"

The ball arced through the air, knocking the Bronzor plain between the eyes. Turned to bright light, the ball sucked it up almost instantly from view. It shook once, twice, three times. Click.

Onyx noticed he was breathing heavily. Moving to pick up the new pokeball his limbs felt heavy, as though he was moving with attached lead. Slowly he picked up the new partner before going to give his new Pignite a hug. Snuffles eyes looked shocked for a second as though it hadn't recognizing him before accepting it. He noted with a bit of humor that it tried to reciprocate, but couldn't quite well due to it being unused to it's newfound arms. Ah well, he could probably have Spine teach it the ins and outs that night while they acquainted with their new teammate. What would his name be? His head pounded, and he briefly pondered on just naming him Headache before coming up with a simple name. Eyes, the Bronzor.

* * *

"Hmm, that was fun." Egil had just finished watching the live stream of Onyx's encounter with the Bronzor and now was turning to other more interesting feeds as the boy turned back to the entrance only to find out that the reward he was meant to be given was something he already owned. "That Bronzor is a smart one, that's for certain. If his Tepig hadn't evolved it probably would have wiped the floor with him"

"It's a strong one, that's for certain." Coordinator was absentmindedly searching through a database. "I'm no time travelling prophet, but it probably had to travel a long way to end up so out of place compared to where it normally would be. I speculate it's experience comes from that."

"Bleh, you make things boring Coordinator." Jumpchan wasn't even pretending to pay attention to the screen at the current moment, which was at a 50x of him sleeping through the night while the newly minted Eyes used the body parts it was named for as a nightlight to annoy the half awake Spine. "This next bit will be interesting, though. The Poison Gym Leader, right?"

"You got it." he responded. "And I don't make things boring, all I did was speculate. If it was you there would probably be some drawn out tragic story about Eyes the hero of his kind and how he's the last surviving kin to slay a demon. Or something equally outlandish."

Jumpchan huffed and turned away.

"Fine then, I guess I won't tell you about the cool thing I just saw."

* * *

The next morning, after a brief training session where he had gotten a better grasp of Eyes' abilities and Snuffles' new and improved ones, he had set off for the Virbank Gym. Honestly though, he couldn't call it one in all seriousness. He got the whole idea of giving each leader their creative freedom to do what they wish for their theme, but this was very clearly a club. Opening the dingy metal door and descending the stairs, he almost forgot to look at the sign. "Roxie, Poison Days, Poison on the Stage?" He was missing something here, clearly. Maybe a reference? "Yeah, okay." He continued onward.

Inside he could feel a faint vibration throughout the hallway, likely the byproduct of multiple high power electronics at once. It was a bit disconcerting, but he brushed it off as he approached the main door. Standing outside was a single man, dressed up in the same uniform as the attendant from the Aspertia Gym. It was likely made that way so that people were able to easily identify them across gyms. He approached the attendant.

"Excuse me?" The attendant looked up from where he had currently been staring at the floor, apparently bored. "I'm here for a gym battle. Is Roxie available?"

"Through the door." The attendant responded, apparently uninterested already. "If she isn't playing, then she's all yours." Deciding that he wouldn't get anymore from him, he walked through the door. "Oh, by the way, since I'm required to tell you this. Roxie uses poison type pokemon, you'll want to avoid her poison if you don't want to lose." He kept it in mind as he entered.

Within he found the place to be one of brightness, which he found surprising. He had felt that it would probably have a clubbish feel, darkened in most places. However instead it was brightly lit, allowing any who entered to see the disarray of the place. Chairs and tables were placed haphazardly about the place, all in similar shades of green and purple. Apparently that was a theme or something here. Apparently these weren't popular hours as there were only a few patrons here at the moment. The lack of noise save for prerecorded music and idle conversation gave him the confidence to walk up to the steps which led to the stage, where the gym leader stood at the mic.

It was rather easy to recognize her, seeing how she stood out from the two generic meatheads behind her. Perhaps it was intentional? She turned around, white hair whipping slightly. He noticed that at the moment she was holding a guitar with a Scolipede motif in her left hand, however it didn't seem to be supporting it much due to the strap around her neck. "Heya, buddy. You need something? If not I'm going to need you to get off since we're starting again soon." A rather roundabout way of saying 'speak up or get out.'

He snapped out of his momentary silence. "Uh yeah, sorry. I'm here to challenge your gym!" He tried to put confidence in that last statement, but it came out a little forced sounding. Hearing this, she grinned.

"Well why didn't you say so!" She motioned to the two men behind her, who backed away and moved their equipment slightly farther away. "There's only one thing I like more than music, and that's battles. How many badges do you have?" She moved to the other side of the stage.

"This'll be my second." He took a ball off of his belt and enlarged it into his right palm. Roxie raised her eyebrows.

"Don't be too sure about that. Alright then, we'll make it a two on two battle, substitutions for challenger only. You ready?" He nodded. "Koffing, go!" As she threw she strummed her guitar, although for what effect he wasn't sure. "Whoops, force of habit." Well, that explained it. Probably. Not at all, if he was honest.

That didn't matter though. "Let's go Eyes!" He yelled out as he threw the ball with force, the Bronzor exploding into existence in a flash of red light. It looked at the Koffing but said nothing, ready to fight. "Start it off with an Iron Defense!" Eyes said nothing, but he could see it's metal thickening in silent response.

Roxie eyed the Bronze Pokemon with disdain. "Well, I can't say that you didn't do you homework. But that's really cheap." She mumbled that last bit so that it was barely audible. "Koffing, Smokescreen!"

"Ffing!" The purple ball responded, pouring out a layer of thick white smoke out onto the stage. Briefly he wondered if it was also used in that way for special effects when she performed, but he ignored it for now. Suddenly, he had an idea. "Eyes, use Imprison!" The blue disc glowed green briefly before stopping. Seeing her chance, she moved.

"Koffing, get it with a Tackle!" From within the smoke there was the sound of movement, but no Koffing came from within. "Koffing?" It let out a struggled response as it's body failed to move. Roxie growled.

"I have no choice then. Smokescreen again!" Onyx began to grow concerned as even more smoke began to overtake the place as the stage was completely covered. He lost sight of Eyes, leaving him along in the thick fog.

"Stay alert, Eyes!" He yelled. "Get ready to use Hypnosis!"

"Zor, it replied. All he could see though, was it's vague shadow. Wait, wasn't it normally not that big?

"Koffing, Self-Destruct!" Onyx's eyes widened as he tried to yell but it was too late, the surprise detonation catching him off guard and almost blowing him back as well. As the smoke cleared from the force of the explosion he came to see Eyes still floating in the air, albeit very beat up looking, while a deflated Koffing lay on the ground unconscious.

"You did good out there Koffing. Get some rest." Roxie was uncharacteristically quiet as she returned her Pokemon. "Whirlipede, move it!" Her next ball opened to release her final Pokemon, which did a few spins in place upon entry. It was rather menacing, it's twin spikes on each end of it adding to the feeling.

"Okay then, let's switch too. Eyes, retu-" He was cut off by the sudden movement of the Whirlipede and a yell of "Pursuit!" Suddenly a black blur slammed into the Bronzor, which flew back and into his stomach. Winded and gasping for air, he struggled for breath for a few seconds before managing to get the heavy pokemon off of him, noting it's inability to battle.

"Sorry about that." She mocked. "Not really though. Alright then, who's your last?" Onyx hesitated. While normally he would go for Cacnea, there was no way that would end well. The creature might be stoic and made for battle, but there was nothing it could do against its own biological disadvantages. He heaved a sigh.

"I was hoping to give you a break after yesterday, oh well. Snuffles! Do it!" The Pignite appeared, taking a moment to do a pose as it flexed its muscles. Onyx admittedly snorted a little at it and he could see out of the corner of his eyes that Roxie was amused.

"Rollout!" Not amused to get distracted apparently. He knew that there was no way that Snuffles could avoid the attack, he just wasn't that fast of a Pokemon. That meant he could only meet it head on.

"Flame Charge, full throttle!" He roared as the Fire Pig met the attack head on. The two clashed in a dead heat, the flames coming off of the Pignite forcing Whirlipede away just as it's heavy rotation made it retreat as well. "Again!" He commanded, as the Whirlipede turned around and began its assault anew. The two clashed over and over each taking more damage as it went on. Little by little though, the advantage began to be shown. As the Whirlipede came in for another pass suddenly Snuffles was no longer there, causing it to blink by instead.

"S-so fast!" He heard from the other side and grinned. Now he was beginning to understand his teammates a little bit more. Snuffles wasn't fast at first, but anyone will feel the difference once they've boosted their capabilities to the max. Now he hard hard and could avoid damage at the same time. The fact that he was whittling away at the Whirlipede's health at the same time was a cute little bonus.

The Whirlipede passed by again as Snuffles sidestepped to the left of it. "Arm Thrust!" He yelled almost on reflex as the Fire Pig's arm shot out, catching it in the side. As it shook out it's hand from the hit the Whirlipede tumbled sideways, landing on it's side. As it struggled to get up after it was suddenly peppered by a barrage of tiny flames, causing Onyx's eyes to widen in surprise. When the smoke cleared the Whirlipede still lay where it had been, but now there were no signs of movement. He turned to the Pignite, which was too busy giving him a cheeky thumbs up to look at him. Returning the fire type to its ball, he tread over to the musician's side.

Apparently she had returned her Pokemon when he had been paying attention to his own, as it was now nowhere to be seen. Instead, she now held a small piece of metal in her hand. "You rocked hard!" She exclaimed. "I could feel the intensity behind your Pignite's blows! I could almost write a song about it. Now's not the time though." She grabbed his hand and pressed the piece into his palm before closing it. "That's the Toxic Badge. Congrats. Also, a little gift." She walked a few feet away to reach into a bag and returned with a small disc, handing it over. "While it's mostly complementary since I hand this out to anybody who wins, that contains Venoshock. You probably don't have a use for it but-"

"Actually, I'm pretty sure I have a guy who can learn it." Last he checked, Spine had good compatibility with poison type moves. As he spoke he put away the badge into its casing, making two.

"Ah, that's good. If you have any questions about it just call me, my number's on the casing. Anyways, I'm guessing that you're heading off to Castelia City?"

"Yep, back home. Why?" Aside from visiting his family, no matter how weird things had suddenly gotten, he also had his own business there as well. He had to beat the gym leader there after all if he wanted to progress.

"Oh, I was afraid of that. See, it's my dad who runs the ferry there. You might remember him as the guy in the captain's uniform?" He might have remembered him vaguely, but he had been with a group of tourists so he hadn't seen much. "Well, he's gotten it into his head that he's going to be the next movie star cause some talent agent scooped him off the street. I would go there to beat some sense into him but I've got a show to perform. If you want to get there anytime soon, I'd suggest going to Pokestar Studios. It's North from here, you can't miss it."

"Alright then, will do. Thanks for the info!" She waved at him as he left before speaking into her mic, now apparently getting ready for her next showing. As he closed the door the music began to pick up into full blast, making him slightly thankfully he was gone. First, he'd go pass by the Pokemon Center and heal up. After that?

Looks like he had an errand to do.

* * *

"So? Nothing to say?" Coordinator questioned Jumpchan, who was currently working a monitor aside from the current stream of Onyx explaining to an assistant at the front desk instead of Nurse Joy that yes, even pieces of metal needed healing. He chuckled lightly.

"No, not really. He's getting better though, bit by bit."

"Is that a surprise? You did go straight out and give him skills that fit the job like a glove. Increase in competency shouldn't be drastic, but they will be noticeable. Say, Egil." The blue haired boy rolled over and lazily opened an eye, apparently napping. "You pick up on any extra-dimensional movements?"

He closed his eyes tight for a bit before responding. "Nope. What he pulled back at the Complex was rather small in scale and accidental, so there was little chance of it getting picked up by anything. Even if it did than it would most likely get mistaken for natural psychic or aura waves, considering he already has one of those two."

"Well of course they would, they were natural waves." She responded. "Don't forget, he was born here just like anyone else in this world was now. Some people don't recognize that though and move to destroy such things. Others are just curious." She glared out at nothing.

"Both instances are equally serious."


	5. Chapter 5: Not Taking Your Sass, Hon

"Ah, Onyx! We've been waiting for you!" The man exclaimed, with his fuzzy yellow afro shaking slightly from the motion's involved.

"...Thank you?" He answered confusedly. Why would he be expecting him? Truth be told, he had just walked through the gate in order to find Roxie's father only to run into this guy and a portly yet well dressed man blocking the path. All he had expected was a quick in and out, maybe wait until the guy's shift was over.

"This is our boss, Deeoh!" He backed away so as to stand behind the other man, who turned to face him. While normally it would be seen as a sign of respect, from behind Mr. Deeoh the man gave him a wink and a shushing gesture to his lips. Onyx's eyes widened imperceptibly. Ah, so something was up after all. He had just assumed by some miracle that he had been mistaken for some other Onyx.

"Bonsoir! Hello! I'm Stu Deeoh! Charmed, I'm sure!" Was this man Kalosian? It would explain the expensive tastes. "We had just been talking about you! I would love to explain Pokestar Studios, but I need a little time to prepare! I'm so sorry dahling, could you wait an eensey moment?" Did he just change accents halfway through? It felt like this conversation was lifted straight out of a bad movie. Well, calling it conversation was giving it more credit than was due. More of a one sided monologue really.

"Well then, I suppose I'll show him around Pokestar Studios." The afro man spoke up again, gaining agreement from his superior. The two conversely briefly before left promptly, to 'make arrangements' for whatever was happening. Afro man relaxed as though a lead weight had been taken off his shoulders.

"Sorry about that. You are Onyx, right?" He nodded in confirmation. "Good, I'd hate to bring someone into this that didn't belong. My name's Roderick. I work here at Pokestar Studios and I'm a friend of Roxie. I'm sure you understand what that means?" His eyes lit up in understanding. She probably had called ahead to secure a way in. How thoughtful of her. "Unfortunately if you entered as a fan you would only get limited access to the grounds so I had to pretend that you were scouted by myself. Anyways, I need to show you around this place to keep cover. I'll explain things along the way." They began to walk along the wide road.

Eventually they came to the center of the large complex. "So this place is exactly what it looks like." He began. "It's a movie metropolis. Watching them, making them, it all happens here." They took the right path towards a palace looking establishment. "This is the theater. Here, all movies made in Pokestar Studios can be viewed."

"Isn't it a little gaudy though?" Onyx questioned. "It hurts my eyes just looking at the thing and it isn't even very sunny."

Roderick chuckled. "Yeah, we get that a lot. The boss has certain expensive tastes, but he's able to afford it all somehow anyways. You'll get used to it." Onyx gave him a questioning look, and he elaborated. "In order to get you on set with Roxie's dad, you'd need to be either part of the Crew or an actor. I'm assuming that you have no experience with equipment?"

"No, not really. I'm good with building things, if that counts?" He attempted a sheepish smile as they approached the Theater's last steps.

"That cuts it down to acting. Basically I signed you down as an actor. To be honest, that doesn't affect you that much. You'll likely get a few calls throughout your adventures asking if you're available to perform in a movie. You perform, you get paid, the opposite happens if you don't. A bit like a job in that sense." Roderick opened the door and held it for Onyx, whom thanked him courteously.

"Of course, there are other benefits as well. Granted, many people don't take advantage of them. Generally once you make a certain amount of films people will begin to recognize you on the streets and they tend to be very...generous with their belongings, if you catch my drift." So they threw things at celebrities to impress them. "Also, should you decide to fill out some paperwork you can acquire a seventh legal holding slot for a pokemon."

"Wait, seriously?" Onyx interrupted. "Isn't that against all league rulings?"

"Well, not technically." Roderick explained. "As long as the pokemon in question is performing a job it is technically treated as a service pokemon, though different from ones who support those with disabilities. Less of a 'allowed to keep out at all times' thing so much as a 'carry without persecution'. Catch my drift?" Affirmative. "Alright, we're dawdling now and we're on a time limit.

He continued on. "This is the reception area. Red carpet courtesy of-" A sudden rush of movement and Onyx could have sworn he saw the slightest flash of severe discomfort and frustration come across Roderick's face before he schooled it into the happy smile he had around Mr. Deeoh.

"Oh, if it isn't the scout himself! Thanks to you, I've made my debut!" If this wasn't Roxie's dad, that he had no clue who he was looking for. Besides the dead giveaway of a uniform, the slightly strange way of speaking spoke of someone who was used to long periods of being away from large settlements. Also known as, awkward.

Briefly he noticed the two talking around him, as he stayed silent. Frankly he would prefer if he interacted with this man as little as possible, for some reason him being in this setting just rubbed him the wrong way. Still, he learned some interesting things though. For one, Roderick had been in the club when he had battled it out with Roxie. As he came back into reality he realized that he was getting dragged towards the front desk. Were they watching a movie? Roderick turned back to see his confused expression and had to stifle a laugh.

Before he even realized what had happened Onyx was being shuffled into a rather spacious movie theater, along with Roxie's father. As they sat down he moved to say something but was cut off as the lights abruptly dimmed. Well, that was incredibly quick.

As Onyx watched the movie, he had to admit he was a bit disappointed. Sure, this seemed to be more of a short film in a series compared to a full on one, but it was superbly bad. While the villain was delivering his lines well, albeit slightly in a slightly cheesy fashion due to his role in the film, the main hero was absolutely terrible. He noted, with a bit of chagrin, that it happened to be the man right next to him. Had they never heard of retakes? What kind of line was 'I'm scared!'? As the movie finished in the fall of the hero he noted the silence of the audience, both out of a mixture of boredom and discontent.

Onyx wondered if the people who had gone to watch that last one would demand their money back as he left the theater. He definitely would have if he had been the one paying, that was awful. His companion seemed to realize this too, due to his now quiet state compared to before.

"Hey you two! How was the movie!" Roderick was there waiting with all smiles for the two of them. "Was okay." Onyx shrugged in response. Instead of answering, Roxie's father heaved a sigh and paced a few steps away.

"I knew it all along." He began. "It's always been my dream to debut on the silver screen. Now I've done that…" He trailed off. "We all have our own talents. I'm a father, but I want to pursue my dreams. If you don't pursue your dreams, you might as well be dead, right?" Suddenly Onyx's opinion of this man did a complete one eighty. He might act like an idiot, but he was smarter than he looked apparently. "One day I'll return to this place. Until then…" He pointed at Onyx, who looked at him in slight surprise. "I'll leave those starring roles to you." He then walked away without a goodbye, out of the theater. Onyx and Roderick watched as he left.

"Well, I guess you didn't need to say anything then." Roderick deadpanned. "In case you couldn't figure it out, I've been gently nudging him to perhaps return to his normal job and take some more classes before pursuing a full time career before continuing here. It seems that watching his own film made him face the music. Only so much post production can do to cover up terrible acting. Anyways, we need to hurry. Mr. Deeoh is probably ready by now, we shouldn't keep him waiting." The pair exited the theater and followed the path, this time in front of a larger building with a large sign depicting a Tyranitar made of metal.

"Here is the studio, where we make our films. Come on, let's go inside." Following Roderick Onyx stepped in to find it like your average office reception area, save for the men moving around in motion capture suits and crew members carrying the heavy equipment. Mr. Deeoh was standing in the center as though he had been posing for them. From his short time knowing him, he had a feeling he was.

"Well, thank you for coming!" Did he have a choice? "I'm Mr. Stu Deeoh, the owner of Pokestar Studios! I've brought you here today because I have a very important request of you!" He continued. "I want you to star in Pokestar Studios Movies! Our scout here," He gestured to Roderick. "Said that you were absolutely oozing with potential!" Oozing, really? There were a lot of adjectives that could be used to describe him, and they went with oozing. Alright.

"Your potential struck me like a lightning bolt!" Either this guy was a poet and he didn't know it, or he had spent the time writing this all out beforehand. "I'm sure you'll be a big star, dahling! I certainly hope so, after…" He trailed off. "Our last fresh talent. I'm afraid that the reviews for his performance were rather, critical so to speak. I'm sure that you understand what you mean."

"I saw it for myself." He responded. nodded.

"Yes, Pop did indeed have potential, but raw and unpolished I'm afraid that it was a bit of a disaster. Thus, I beg of you! Be in a movie!" He gestured grandly, before coming back down to earth. "Between you and me, this is just a re-shoot. Brycen-Man vs. Middle Aged Man of Justice is doing so badly that we've decided to remove it from theaters and recast it with a new talent. Brycen!" He switched back to his happy voice and Onyx began to get a very clear picture that the people who worked here had many different faces that he would do well to learn. Would you join us?"

From the door in the back there was the sound of footsteps before a pale man appeared, dressed in a yukata. For whatever reason though, he only had half of it on. A style of some sorts? He also seemed to be wearing only blue, so it was probably some sort of quirk. Then again, who could he talk. The only reason he wasn't wearing his full black on grey armor was because one, it stood out and two, he was now just as attached to this outfit as he was that one. "I'm Brycen...pleased to meet you…" Not much of a talker, huh. Onyx wondered where all the energy came from when he performed. "I look forward to acting with you." Just as quickly as before he filed back into the door.

"Ah that's Brycen, our marquee star! The script will be perfect for a veteran like him and fresh talent such as yourself. Now go! Don't be prepared to make mistakes. Although, not too much."

Feeling a bit of pressure on him, he stepped through the doors.

* * *

"Hey, Coordinator, this is right up your alley, right?" Egil mumbled at the purple dressed man aside him, who was currently focused on the monitor a bit more than usual.

"Well, sort of." He replied absentmindedly. "I find it odd how they also never go off site to make their films however. Ah well, a different style for everyone I suppose."

"Does that mean you aren't going to watch it?"

"Of course I'm going to watch it."

* * *

Around twenty minutes later and Onyx was standing on a large expanse of bright green backdrop, likely to be changed in post production. He had read through the script and found it to be rather simplistic, although he supposed that was a given. While he had expected to be brought to change, apparently that wasn't a thing in the studios. Supposedly their effects were good enough that they could just edit on the costumes later. It felt like a waste of resources, but that wasn't his call. Signing that he was ready to an elderly man who he assumed was the director, he waited for the time to be called before they began. Throwing out a Riolu, which had been provided for the duration of the shoot, he watched as Brycen threw out a Pawniard. Last he checked, the script said to use a super effective move. This Riolu only knew two moves, Force Palm and Ice Punch. That meant one choice of action.

"Riolu, Force Palm!" The Riolu moved and hit the Pawniard square in the stomach, avoiding it's spikes. The Pokemon went flying, so much that it went off of the designated area. He almost grew concerned for it when it got up and started walking away calmly, as though it hadn't happened. Apparently these little guys were experts at stage fighting. As to be expected.

"What's going on? Is this one of those hero skits?" An extra cried from the crowd of people around the two as they faced off. Brycen wielded a cocky smirk, apparently the change in his persona now evident upon beginning.

"To only need one hit to knock out my Pokemon… you're pretty good, Riolu Kid!" That was something that Onyx found to be irritating. He was not a kid, no sir. However, the director apparently thought otherwise in changing Middle Aged Man of Justice's name to suit the new actor. Nothing he could do to change it though. Brycen sent out a Vullaby, which clucked menacingly. If anything with a bone diaper could do that anyway.

"Still however, you shall get on your knees before me when I end you with my dark, secret arts!" From behind Brycen, off set, two sets of lines were being held up by an intern on two large white cards. "Bring it on!" One red. "I'm scared!" The other one said. The second was crossed out with red marker, apparently as a result of the last shooting. Gritting his teeth and growling so as to not appear like he was indecisive as what to say, he chose neither.

"Dark arts? Don't make me laugh." He clenched his fist and began to concentrate. Suddenly, red arcs of lightning began to dance across his skin as his eyes turned the same shade as the blue fox in front of him. "That means nothing to me. Riolu, Ice Punch now!" Not missing a beat the Riolu charged ahead and slammed the bird in the stomach, which rolled off in a similar fashion to end the scene.

"That's a wrap!" The director roared from off to the side. Onyx relaxed, but his eyes still contained hints of red as he too walked off set. He approached the director. "I suppose that line could work, although I'm surprised you ad-libbed. Didn't like the samples?" He didn't give him time to respond. "What surprised me though was that little light show you gave us. You an aura user kid?"

"Something like that, yeah." He responded. It had been Aura he was using, just not in the sense that the Director was thinking at all. He was a little concerned though, since he had to activate his semblance for the red eyes trick. He just hoped he hadn't used it unconsciously. That could only lead to bad things. "Anyways, I think that I'll take my leave now. Thanks for everything, bye!" He left as quickly as he had came, exiting the studio.

Unbeknownst to him, a small black dog with a bone mask and blazing red eyes whined before melting into shadows and dissipating.

A few minutes later saw Onyx trudging towards the pier side, all set and ready to leave Virbank for his home. Now that the captain was back at the yard, he was hoping that he would get a smooth transit back to the city. Of course, this couldn't happen so easily. Did he just have back luck, or was it a side effect of this whole Jump thing? He didn't have time to think about this right now, because trouble was afoot.

As he peered around the corner, he found the trio of Nate and Hugh from Aspertia along with Roxie staring down an equal amount of men in a uniform that stopped him cold. Team Plasma? They were seriously bad news. Criminals were never a good group to deal with, especially guys in organized crime like this. He caught the tail end of the conversation as he pulled his back off his back as stealthily as he could and because to draw out a pair of very important items.

"When you're ready kiddies, give it your best shot!" These goons wanted to fight? Nope, not happening. People like them don't play fair, why should he? Onyx walked around the corner and stepped in front of the three, leaving them mildly surprised.

"Well, you could do that. Or, you could walk away, right now. Your choice." They sneered at him and one guffawed, unbelieving. His tune soon changed when he found a gun suddenly trained at his face, it's twin pointing at the one at the far right.

"Two guns, three people. In the time that it will take for a single one of you to reach for a single Pokeball I will have put a bullet into each and every one of your skulls. I ask again. Will you fight, or run?" The leader's face twisted into a mix of fear and rage.

"Tsk...let's run!" The group moved to push past him only to suddenly feel the extreme displeasure of being whipped in the face with the side of a weapon meant to go toe to toe with some of the most fierce monsters that had even faced off against mankind. As they dropped to the ground screaming, he tackled the other to the ground. Hitting Poetry's mode change he held the newly formed war fan to Mr. Middle's neck.

"Who said I would let you?" He smirked, before removing the belts and Pokeballs from their belts before binding them. Really, he was surprised that not a single one of them were armed. People trusted in their Pokemon too much, even the criminals.

"...Onyx?" Hugh questioned. "That is you right, from Aspertia Town?" He nodded, a bit busy checking the bindings on the last man. "...Thanks, I guess?"

"How did you know that they were here?" Strange, that was the first time that he had ever heard Nate speak. Whatever.

"I was actually just walking around the corner and I ran into you guys. Roxie, can I trust you to take these guys to the police? They'll get away if we leave them alone."

"I suppose I could. My position grants that authority after all." She started to gather the men up, before stopping. "Is that really a gun?"

Onyx quickly hit the mode change button on Punk as well. "Nope, just war fans. No idea what you could be talking about." She smirked.

"Sure they are. See you three, stay safe!" She began to slowly drag the two away. He began to walk down the nearby stairs to the boat for Castelia, stopping about halfway when he noticed that the two weren't moving.

"You two coming? The boats going to leave without you if you don't. Or are you staying?" The two looked at each other, as though having an unspoken conversation. What, had he managed to spook the two of them? He supposed they had a reason to be. Walking down the steps to join him, they approached the boat and after a few minutes negotiation were ready to kick off.

It was time to head home.


	6. Chapter 6: Coming Home

The ride to Castelia was uneventful, to say the least. Save for watching the Wingull glide across the waves, nothing of note had really happened. Onyx had kept to himself throughout the trip, less out of being antisocial and more for just having some time to himself. About halfway there, he pulled out his Pokegear and texted his mother to tell her that he would be home soon to visit. She texted back in a few minutes, excited. Apparently, they wouldn't be able to meet until later however, she was pulling a double shift today at the firm she worked at. His father was still abroad in Sinnoh securing a business partnership for his company, so he would be unable to join them.

Family. Wow. It was strange to have yet another set of parents. He'd like to imagine that they'd be like how his original family would have been if they hadn't turned to crime. Even so, that didn't change anything. They were both equally his own kin, he had to deal with both. Turning his thoughts away from that sort of thing, he mulled over the advice he had been given back in Aspertia by the ever hard to predict "Jumpchan". She had given him advice, some of which was more statements than anything. One thing he remembered though was that she said he should find a psychic. Funny thing about that one. Pulling out Eyes' Pokeball, he lobbed it into the air. The Bronze Pokemon erupted from within. "Zor?" It questioned.

"You're good with psychic stuff, right?" he questioned it.

"Bron." It deadpanned. It proceeded to do a brief light show with its eyes. That was an obvious one.

"Okay, stupid question. I was told by a...friend that I should see one. You think you can figure out why?" The Bronzor seemed to think for a couple minutes before it's eyes glowed blue. Suddenly, from within his brain, he could see the image of the Virbank Complex. Only this time, it wasn't through his eyes, but in Eye's perspective. Trying to flee after knocking around Snuffles only to suddenly be stopped in place, unable to move. The Onyx within the vision glowered, eyes glowing slightly as a purple hue coated his body.

"You're saying I did that?" He asked the Pokemon. It looked at him like it was a stupid question, which it kind of was. It had no reason to show him anything false, after all. "You think that you can teach me how to do it again?" It seemed to shake its head, slightly indecisive. A maybe. "Okay, where do we start? We've got a bit of time on our hands here."

The rest of the time was spent trying to repeat the effects of what had happened at Virbank, which mostly consisted of staring at things really hard and trying to make them move. A couple times he thought he had done it, but it was actually just Eyes making another demonstration again. While he could manifest it now that he was aware he had the potential, being able to direct and control it was another thing. He supposed he would just need to remember the steps he had taken before at a later date. He could almost swear he heard it laughing at him a couple of times by the end of it.

He had arrived at Castelia in the early afternoon, having slept through the remainder of the ride. Slightly groggy, he rubbed the sleep out of his eyes and recalled Eyes, who was currently lying on its side next to him. If he hadn't known better he would have thought it was an oddly shaped manhole due to it facing the other way.

As he descended the steps he found that Nate and Hugh had already gotten ahead of him, commenting on a strange ship on the other side of the docks. Indeed, it was an unusual craft to be docking anywhere, let alone Castelia. Last he checked, sailed ships had fallen completely out of circulation due to modern technology and those left were for tourism. Perhaps a mobile experience, of some sort? Nothing worth considering for more than the already allocated amount of time. He approached the two boys, figuring he might as well see what they were up to.

"So you two," he said as he approached them. "What are you guys planning on here? This is my hometown, so I might be able to give you a few tips." At that Hugh turned around like a rabbit on caffeine.

"This is your hometown!" Woah buddy, little forward there. "We're going after Team Plasma! I'm going to start looking right now!" He sped off after that, leaving Onyx alone with Nate.

"Yeah, sorry about that. He's got some personal business with them that he doesn't like talking about. Anyways, you want to come with?" Nate spoke. Onyx considered the options for a minute. On one hand, adventure. On the other though, he did already have some pre-existing commitments. Decisions, decisions...

"Maybe in a bit, not immediately though. Castelia is a big city, I'll be honest but your chances of finding a single group is rather slim without any information besides them being in the city. Tell you what though." He paused a minute to think. "I was going to drop off my stuff at home, but I figure that there's no point if somebody's there. I'm gonna grab me a Casteliacone, meet me at Thumb Pier in like thirty minutes. Chances are if you're part of this places underbelly, that's where you'd want to hide. Or, you know, if you're a hobo. That enough time for you to find Hugh?"

"Yeah, should be. Wait, why didn't you mention it to him before?" Nate questioned.

"Well, that's because he sped off like a Zubat out of hell before I could say anything. Anyways, I'm off." He waved his goodbyes to Nate, stepping off of the pier and onto the sidewalk. It felt good to be in the city again, wide spaces for stretching his legs. It wasn't as though he had felt cramped out in nature, far from it, but the comfort of the concrete jungle which had defined his entire life's boundaries was still immense. Checking his bag to see that it was all securely fastened and zipped, he took off.

Normally the pace one could manage in Castelia at a time like this was a mild trot at best. The rush of men and women heading to work ended up making a large crowd in which if you weren't aware of your surroundings you'd soon be sprawled on the sidewalk faster than a grandma on Black Friday. Thankfully, he had both the skills to move faster than that and still not crash. He couldn't say that he moved through the crowd like it was liquid because he wasn't that amazing at getting through the tight spaces, he could just predict where they would appear and move around it. Eventually, he reached the stand, its bright blue and white colors making it stick out from the surrounding buildings. As usual, it only had a few customers around. Buying only took a minute, however, the process of eating it took several since he wanted to savor the flavor.

"Excuse me?" from behind him someone asked. Onyx turned around. Standing taller than him was a middle-aged man in a long brown trench coat. Underneath he seemed to be wearing business attire, a tie and dress shoes completing the image. "Do you know how I would get to Square Garden?"

A tourist? "Sure, I can take you there myself actually. I'd give you the directions, but even on streets as wide as this you can get lost." Say what you will about talking to strangers, but Onyx was of the mind that a single act was what it took to develop a good reputation to a place. That, along with the fact he had a gun. If this guy was a creeper, there was no way that he was getting away with anything.

The man seemed to debate this. "I suppose that would be alright, as I am in a hurry. Would it be alright if we set off now?" He shifted, slightly anxious.

"Sure, Mr…." He trailed off, stuffing the last bite of the cone into his mouth before swallowing.

"Looker." The two walked, the man trailing behind him slightly as Onyx brought him through the maze of people. It passed at a much slower pace than he had gotten to Casteliacone due to him not being able to move at a faster pace, making him wonder briefly if he'd need to use his brand new bike to make it in time. Ah well, he was doing a good deed. Surely Nate and Hugh would understand.

"So, Mr. Looker," Onyx said, preparing small talk. "What brings you to Castelia? Business? Pleasure? Something else?" It wasn't prying so much, but he was interested. He certainly didn't seem to be the vacationing type, nor was he wearing appropriate dress. It didn't seem that he was here for some sort of business deal like many did, for he carried no bags with him.

"Well, I'm afraid that's something that I cannot reveal." Looker smiled at him as they continued on. So something classified then. A criminal then? He couldn't feel any killing intent off of him, nor did he seem to have the cocky air one would expect of a kingpin. No, he was rather severe in style however. It was a hunch, but…

"You're a military man. That, or a government official. Am I wrong?" Looker's eyes widened slightly before returning back to normal just as quickly. Bingo. Was it just him or was he getting better at this sort of thing? "I'm right." He stated.

"Ah, you got me." They were just around the corner to Square Garden. "I suppose there's no harm in it." He delved his hand into his coat before pulling out a small badge. Opening it briefly showed the official seal of some organization Onyx couldn't identify at first glance. "I work with the International Police. As for what I'm doing here, I'm afraid you still won't get that out of me still."

Onyx digested this information. Clearly, this man was more than he seemed. "Cool." He played it off, as they arrived at the Garden. Aside from a few streets performers and locals, the place was relatively empty as tended to be the case at this time of day. He briefly scanned the place for anything that Looker could have been here for. Some sort of observation?

"Looker!" He turned right, seeing a woman in a black suit addressing his companion. The man, clearly recognizing her strode over. "I was wondering when you would show up. Did you get lost?" She looked vaguely familiar, it was her hair that did it. Purple tends to do that for you. But from what, when? He could almost see her in a different outfit for whatever reason.

"Ah, almost. Thankfully this young man showed me the way. Sorry Anabel." It clicked.

"Do I know you from somewhere? Like, maybe on TV or something?" Onyx questioned.

She blinked a bit. "I don't think so, I've always been here at my...job." Did she not want to tell him what she was doing here? Was she not supposed to? He looked at Looker for some sort of answers. He felt a brief headache before he closed his eyes, willing it to stop. He paused a few seconds to rub his temples before reopening him.

"Sorry, headache. Anyways, it was nice meeting you , but I have to go! Team Plasma won't defeat itself!" Another blink and the eyes which had been that odd purple turned back to their normal greenish gray as their owner sped off in the opposite direction. Looker turned to his partner.

"Did you just do what I think you did?" Looked questioned. "Forgive if I'm acting out of ranking, but I do believe that was outside of conduct procedures. Use of psychic tech is very illegal even for you."

"I had to see what you told him." She glared at him slightly as she pulled a hand out of her pocket, no longer holding down the switch that activated the small piece of equipment. "No offense to you, but you tend to not have the tightest ship when it comes to your position or mission. I hadn't expected that though." She seemed to mull this over for a bit. "Wait, didn't he say something about Team Plasma? She questioned.

"Yes, he did," Looker responded, suddenly all business. "Shall I pursue?"

"At posthaste. It may be that they are related to the spike in activity we've found in this area. Rising and falling levels are alright, but over the past twelve years it hasn't stopped according to data. At this rate someone else is going to notice, and if they get any crazy ideas…"

Catastrophe.

Onyx had barely made it time to the pier, slightly winded from the run across the city. He wasn't weak, but at the same time he was no superman. It made him wonder why he couldn't just teach Eyes Teleport. Better yet, learn it himself. Psychics do that or whatever, right? "You guys ready?" He asked the duo, who were waiting by some tourism company's boat.

"Yeah! We're gonna beat Team Plasma!" Hugh shouted, causing something within Onyx to cringe. He was enthusiastic, but a drive like that was likely to drive him to some impulsive actions. Guiding them to the sewers, they stepped inside.

Immediately upon entering Onyx popped a squat and dropped his back, equipping his old armor onto his joints. Pulling out his belt he attached the four holsters before sliding Punk and Poetry into the ones at the side, which were shaped to hold them when they were still war fans. He looked up briefly to find the two of them staring at him.

"...What? Do you think I'm stupid enough to actively hunt down a criminal without protection?" He questioned.

"But you have your Pokemon! You don't need any of that!" Hugh shouted, echoing through the sewers. Onyx groaned. If Team Plasma hadn't known they were coming, they did now.

"I don't believe in not having a backup plan. Issue?" Silence. "Thought so. Come on." They continued onwards, undisturbed save a few Grimer and Zubat. Their appearance reminded Onyx of those Drawbacks Jumpchan had spoken of. One of them had to do with Zubat. Wasn't it called Swarmed or something like that? It seemed to not be happening right now, so he supposed he was grateful for that. Eventually, he spied the familiar uniform of two Team Plasma members and just as quick Hugh began to run his mouth as Nate reached for his Pokeball.

"Team Plasma! You villains!" Hugh shouted as he pulled out a Pokeball. "I won't let you steal any Pokemon!"

"What? You can't stand in our way to liberate Pokemon!" One yelled while the other stayed silent like some sort of classic duo. Too slow, anyways.

"Maybe not, but I can~!" Came a sing-song voice as two grown men were clotheslined by a twelve year old boy. Granted, the more accurate description was they were smacked with a pair of closed up war fans, but it was close enough. Stepping away as they yelled, gasping and sputtering from the sudden blow. Nobody should be hit be hitting that hard, let alone a kid. The gray haired child narrowed his eyes as they stood shakily.

"Now get out." Onyx deadpanned. They stared, unbelieving. "Do I have to say it again? Or would you like to avoid a beating?" Cursing, they ran away while screaming threats.

A pause. Then.

"Onyx, sometimes I wonder who's the real villain." Nate said, slightly freaked out by the display. Onyx shrugged.

"When dealing with their type, you need to display dominance and control over the situation. It applies to both street thugs and basic criminals too. Anyways, let's keep going." He holstered his weapons and prepared to move further. A so so excuse, he supposed. In reality, he just didn't like these guys because they felt like a bastardized version of the White Fang.

"I don't think that's necessary, you three." they were stopped by a familiar figure. Of all the places for him to show up, it was here? He didn't know the guy personally, but the loud green and red outfit could make him recognizable anywhere.

"Are you the gym leader, Burgh?" Hugh questioned. Really, was it not that obvious? With the costume looking outfit and the blatant display of a favoring to a certain type with the coloration and butterfly belt buckle he might as well have an attached sticker with his name on it. Actually, that would be pretty funny.

As the duo interacted with each other, Onyx couldn't help but hear the faint echoes of something else from where Burgh had come from. Footsteps? Onyx shifted slightly, his hands sliding to his re-holstered guns only to slide away as he saw the figure that had approached. A blond haired man with a rather strange strand dyed blue and then made to circle about as though it were a half halo, he was dressed as though he were a scientist. A researcher down in the sewer?

"You there!" The man called out to them. "That was astounding work there! What an amazing battle!" He seemed to pause for a moment as he stopped walking forward. "The courage you showed against a dangerous syndicate such as Team Plasma was simply astonishing!" He then hurriedly ran out, without any form of showing that he was to leave. Onyx frowned. That felt suspicious, somehow. He turned, only to find that the man had already vanished. That, and apparently Hugh was already off gallivanting somewhere. Typical. Seeing Nate finish his conversation with Burgh and then trot away, followed by the man in green soon after, Onyx was once again left alone.

It felt odd, how quickly his adventure had seemed to go. Was it days? Weeks? Time seemed to lose meaning when he was on the road. All of a sudden he felt very in over his head. What was time supposed to mean to a dimension jumping being of questionable levels of capability? The thought was mildly upsetting if he was honest. He had to be careful lest he lose himself completely. As he sat against the corner of the area and began to breathe deeply, he began to feel something from within him.

To be more precise, it was like two separate feelings. One was more pressing, a twinge that bordered on full on headache and migraine pounding his head. He could owe that to the stress. Perhaps he needed to take a short break on his journey? Nobody could blame him, most tended to outright quit at the point he was at. Not like he was allowed to stop completely, according to some pink haired goddess. Or whatever she wanted to call herself. But along with this, he couldn't help this sinking feeling in this stomach. It was like the feeling of being on a runway in front of a plane, seeing the fate before him but having no way of stopping it.

A low rumble echoed through the sewers as his headache intensified. Now he could hear it clearer. The sound of beating wings, followed by their unearthly cries as they echolocated their way through the place. Onyx's eyes widened and before he even realized what he was doing began to sprint madly away. The sounds of pursuit followed.

"Better run! I hear these guys eat people." He could almost he could hear the high pitched voice of some boy that he didn't know, but there was no time for his mind to wander. He couldn't attack, either. This wasn't his territory, plain and simple. If he turned around to use his Pokemon they would be mauled in the swarm, type resistance or no. While he might have better usage if he used his own weapons, in the end even Dust could fall to superior numbers. Not to mention that he only had a limited stock on it at the moment. No, all he could do was run. Feeling the energy course through his body little red sparks danced across his skin as he began to achieve his full sprint.

While some Zubat had already managed to lie in wait for him, catching the fast moving target was another. Ducking and weaving through the pipes, they struggled to keep up with his surprising agility as he ascended. A few attempted a poison and even got some hits in, only to cry out in dismay to find that while it hurt their prey it didn't seem to fell it.

Onyx burst onto Thumb Pier, ready to take a stand against the Zubat on the docks. To his surprise through all that could be heard was the sound of flesh on flesh, followed by enraged screeching. Peering at the entrance to the sewers, he was astonished to see the Zubat piled one on top of another, biting viciously but unable to reach him as though through some unseen barrier. Was this his abilities?

"Nope." The voice said again. "Sorry, but there are no encounter rates for Zubat in the city. That, and I'm too lazy to code them in. Call it a sign of benevolence on my part." Who was this guy? Not Jumpchan, obviously. Another one like her? Maybe a friend? He tried to calm down, but for some reason, while his migraine was gone that same feeling of dread hung on him. Even more so than before, if he thought about it. Trying to analyze himself along with his surroundings, he began to understand why.

Castelia City was never this dark, even during the night. Yet, despite it being noon, a heavy cloud cover blackened the sky with pitch clouds. Despite this, it wasn't even raining. But that wasn't what scared him. Not even the odd lack of any lighting on many of the buildings in the distance, or the stampede of panicking people. No, it was the heavy smoke cover, coming from the distance. It was undeniable, heavy and choking as it rose into the air.

Castelia City was on fire.


	7. Chapter 7: Vs Celesteela

It took him a few seconds to fully grasp this. His home, falling to the ground around him? Impossible. No, that could never happen. Surely he was just hallucinating in some odd state after being hit by the waves of so many different Zubat at once. Yet try as he might, the smells of the flame still lingered and the screams were still prevalent. Pulling out his Pokegear, he scrolled quickly to the favorited number of his Mom. He shuffled anxiously as the phone buzzed once, twice, three times. Nothing. He tried the same with Hugh and Nate. Similar responses. He cursed under his breath.

Were they not responding because of signal issues? Or had they been caught up in this whole catastrophe? He looked at the smoke and his heart dropped into his stomach. From the way it was blowing, it seemed that the fire was at the heart of the city. He had promised to meet somebody there. Someone very, incredibly dear to him.

"No!" He yelled as he began to run, still fatigued after his chase with the Zubat. His breaths came in gasps as he ran but he continued onwards, undeterred by the raging crowds flowing against him. While he wasn't able to nearly make the amount of time he wanted, he was also forced in the same way to take a slightly decelerated approach so that instead of just collapsing upon arrival he was still conscious. What he saw he didn't even have words for.

There, among the trees dyed crimson with tongues of flame, was the largest creature he had ever seen in his life. Towering at the size of at least a small building, it's gray green metallic body reflected the orange light around it as it swung around in fury, fighting off a rather battered Espeon. Two arms, metal and disconnected from the body, spewed fire in all directions. Was this thing the cause of all of this? He couldn't recognize it, but something about it seemed awfully familiar for no reason in particular. He waited for it to continue but to his sinking hearts feelings he watched it pause mid fight, before turning in his direction. How? He had done nothing to it, hadn't made any obtrusive movements.

"Onyx, run!" Yelled a familiar female voice, before coughing heavily. Anabel! The agent stood next to her partner Pokemon, which now lay on the pavement as she returned it, seemingly to use her next ally. "You can't fight that thing alone!" The creature let out a wail before its arms lit up and it began charging at him in slow motion.

Onyx would like to say that it was his skill that saved him. That he had predicted how the creature was going to move and had dodged accordingly. But to be honest? He had locked up upon seeing the thing charge him. Why wouldn't he? How the events seemed to parallel each other. Before it had been an Ursa, now it was this. Either way, he was going to die. He closed his eyes. Heat flashed through his body and the smell of ozone filled his nostrils. A cold chill through the air.

The sounds of flesh on metal echoed. He kept his eyes shut, sure he was dead again. Then, the sound of a long, baleful howl. The howl that no true animal could ever make. No, this was one born of rage and weaned on hate. There was a single creature out there that could make that sound. He stepped back and felt himself sink into a puddle. This wasn't any normal puddle though. He knew better than anyone that this was something far more sinister. After all, water wasn't naturally black.

Grappling the raging metal monster was an Alpha Beowulf. Upon its forehead glowed a symbol of a maple leaf, outlined red through its odd bioluminescence. He could almost feel his mind being dragged back to Remnant from within his mind, but something grounded him in the here and now. The Beowulf looked at him, before beginning to disintegrate and turn to shadows before his very knew this one, more than all the others. It had a name. He had known it, before. But not now, he had no time to remember. What he did have, was an opportunity. While he couldn't run, since the creature was already locked onto him apparently, now he could fight. Throwing out his entire team behind him, he loaded a full round of fire Dust into both gun cartridges before slamming the two together.

The effect was instant. The metal components within each signaled to each other as they began to meld and extend, becoming a greater part of a whole. The blue and red metals met each other and became one within his hands, set alight through the ammunition within. With a mighty roar, Onyx swung the completed Punk and Poetry with full force.

While normally that swing would only do damage considerable to a human being, due to his physique not being very impressive in this universe, one had to figure in the power of the Dust behind it. Thus, it felt as though a rocket-propelled sledgehammer had blown up in the creatures face, it's enraged roars telling him all he needed to know about how it felt about that last one. His arms trembled and shook from the blowback.

"Come on you guys, let's move!" He disengaged the weapon back into their separate selves, not able to carry it inconspicuously due to its bright colors always being partially revealed when together. Looker and Anabel were signaling him away to a safe alcove beneath a partially wrecked bathroom, Anabel seemingly giving directions to a Dusknoir through some sort of communication device.

"Onyx! What are you doing here! What is that you're carrying?" Looker exclaimed, looking at the boy. Indeed, before him seemed to be a different person that the one he met before. That calm and friendly child was still there, but now he could see the determination of a warrior. That, and if he were to look closer, deep, deep, worry.

"Nevermind that. Have you seen a woman that looks like me around here?" Onyx asked desperately. Looker shook his head.

"No, everyone in the area evacuated immediately upon seeing the Ultra Beast. If she was here, she's long gone." Onyx breathed a sigh of relief, but still felt utterly lost.

"Ultra Beast? What is that thing and why is it torching the city!" He yelled. Looker seemed to be trying to explain as he opened his briefcase again, revealing a set of five odd looking Pokeballs. He handed them to Anabel, who barely acknowledged them before sliding them into her pocket. "Those are the last we have, use them wisely. Here, you take some too." Looker handed Onyx five of the odd Pokeballs as well.

"These are Beast Balls, meant to capture the Ultra Beast you see in front of you. While I want to just send you away, it seems that Blaster has taken a bad liking to you. Seems I'll need to give you some. As of this moment, you're now a provisional member of the International Police." Onyx's eyes widened. That wasn't something to joke around about. The International Police was basically a mix between a global FBI and superhero team all at once. Granted they had no actual powers, but still. That Looker apparently thought that he was needed for this showed how desperate this situation was. Even still, he felt he was still missing vital information.

"So why is that thing here? And why does it apparently hate me so bad?" He attached the Beast Balls to his belt.

"A few hours ago an anomaly known as an Ultra Wormhole opened up over Castelia City. While this is known to happen, this area has been experiencing odd temporal rifts for a good decade or so. Thus, instead of a pin sized hole, we got one big enough to let Blaster through. That's its code name, by the way." An explosion sounded and Dusknoir let out a yell as it was struck by a Seed Bomb. Pulling up Punk a loud whining shot rang out as the distracted Blaster took a Fire Dust shot to the back, turning around only to find nothing save for ruins. A Shadow Ball from its opponent brought the creature's attention away.

Looker was looking at him now. Heh, Looker looking. "You're rather lucky I just instated you otherwise you'd be convicted of unauthorized use of firearms. Something tells me a kid like you doesn't have a license for that kind of thing." Actually last he checked his Remnant ID actually did give him those sort of privileges, although he wasn't too sure how well that transferred to a different universe. He settled for giving Looker a sheepish grin to which the man gave him a tired sigh.

"Look, this is no time to be playing around. I want you to go around from the side, draw its attention. Can you do that while Anabel focuses on damage dealt?" He seemed to be closing off their briefing. Onyx nodded, preparing his weapons to go. "Also, leave your Pokemon here. You'll likely be a bit too busy to manage them, while they seem to be quite capable they are still rather low in their evolution stage. I can direct them to support you while you fully concentrate on yourself." He thought for a second before nodding. While he didn't see any Pokemon on Looker's person, he didn't doubt the man's capabilities. Strange, how he trusted him so deeply despite them having only met that day. Perhaps it was some form of fate? Knowing his circumstances, probably.

Onyx darted out from their hiding spot, briefly catching the orders given to his team before it was lost in the sound of crackling fire and Pokemon yells. Dusknoir was now joined by an Alakazam, although it looked like the former would need to return soon. Anabel was yelling orders at her best, looking rather ragged at the moment. He couldn't go towards her, she was already taking enough heat as is. As much as he had hated it, he needed to do it again. Even with his guns, it seemed that now he had no choice.

The tradition back at home was that every person was named after a color. Why was up to debate, many stories conflicted each other. Something about an Oum? In the end, the tradition had stuck almost globally. Funnily enough, those names tended to influence each person heavily. Or maybe it was just the person growing to fit their name? Who knew.

Ruby, well, it was obvious. She was red, like her roses. Wow, that sounded both cliche and copyrighted at the same time. Her semblance was of the same color, the petals flying off of her a scorching crimson. For Yang, she was the burning yellow. Her fiery hair lighting up like the sun as her temper increased. So when people saw Onyx's aura, they tended to be slightly confused to see the arcs of red but merely dismissed it. It wasn't like everyone fit a color scheme.

Except, he did. Oh, how he wished it didn't. It was almost ironic how a huntsman might loathe their semblance, but he managed to fit that particular bill. The why could take years to tell properly. For most people, they wouldn't care to listen to his tale. No, all they would see were his actions. From deep within himself, Onyx grasped his soul, his very being with a firm grip. From there, he wrenched out his birthright.

For some, the activation of one's semblance was like a muscle. It was turned on and off, as one pleased. For others, who had less practice in the art or never bothered refining it, often relied on their emotions to run off of muscle memory. Anger activating an offensive technique, for example. What Onyx fed on though, was something much more primal.

Touching the world with his very essence, he could feel it in the air. It hung like a sickness, sticky and thick like syrup. All of the city's malcontent and anguish, heavy and choking. He could feel the overwhelming torrent of grief and terror, the fires of unfocused rage as people turned on each other in the chaos. He couldn't even ponder why they felt this way, all he could do was take those feelings and envelop them.

He supposed that he had done this on an instinctive level when the creature had charged him. Blaster, Looker had called it? That didn't really matter. He had probably manifested the Ultra Beast's own rage against it without him even realizing. Yet now that he looked at it, he couldn't feel that anger. It was still present, but mixed in was fear, worry, sadness. It was almost as though it were a lost child, throwing a temper tantrum at the world. That didn't matter anymore though.

This part always made him want to vomit. Now if anyone were to look at him they'd think that he had gone and stuck a fork in an electrical socket, the arcs of red light dancing across his body. His eyes fueled with rage not of his own, he desperately channeled all of these foreign feelings into and out of him. Just like that, they began to take physical form.

Like shadows, they were unnoticeable at first. Little darkened patches in the ground, unnoticeable due to the raging fire. But then they multiplied and thickened. Became vicious, like tar. Some emanated a strong heat, as though it were cooling lava. Each one was a nexus of those negative energies, condensed into the physical plane. His breath was labored by the effort, he found himself panting like a dog without having even moved. He wasn't finished though. He focused upon all those blackened patches, feeling them look at him with unseeing gazes. They waited for his command, the hair trigger to their release. His throat was caught up as though congested and it felt dry from the smoke. He hated this. He had sworn that he wouldn't do it again. But he had already broken that vow already just a minute ago, hadn't he? Even if by accident. Now, he had no choice.

"Rise." His voice was quiet, barely audible at all above the still rampaging battle. Most of Anabel's Pokemon lay defeated and her eyes were switching between Blaster and himself, clearly alarmed. "Rise." Again, with more feeling. They quivered but stayed. Did they want more from him? Was this some sort of sick test? Hadn't he already suffered enough because of them? His face twisted up into a snarl. "Rise!" They did.

As one, the puddles expanded and rose from the ground, creatures of nightmares given darkened and evil flesh. Midnight fur and skin mixed with bone to create monsters beyond the knowledge of this mankind. Piercing cries and bloodcurdling howls filled the air as they were born in triumph. They reveled in the moment, soaking in the atmosphere of the moment. The sudden burst of fear from those three nearby was delicious, yes, but just by being in the city alone they felt more fulfilled than any hunt in Remnant would have. They turned to their master as their eyes gleamed a bloody red, markings glowing in their gruesome bioluminescence.

Their master stood stock still, quiet as a stone. In the absence of movement around him, one would almost think he was dead. Yet he lived, they knew that to be true. They felt the strings of life and fate, connecting to him. They existed at his will and leisure and they would return just as soon as he was done with them. That did not mean that he was immune to them, however.

He could feel the connection to them, just as they did. Just one person, against all of them? It took all of his willpower to not just collapse into a sobbing wreck right there and then. Already his skin felt clammy, something he knew wasn't just a feeling. Just as he changed them to do his will they could change him too, only at a reduced rate. He couldn't allow that, even as a Geist floated up and curled around his neck, curling its arms around him as though in an embrace, forming a cloak of sorts around his neck. It might have seemed like some sort of affection, but the heavy weight of it's bone and the one eyed mask only served to make it the literally heavy weight on his shoulders. He stared into the eyes of this congregation and almost had to stifle a self-pitying laugh. It seemed that he too, in the end, followed the law of the color scheme.

There were no more words after that. For a pack, all they needed was the call of the hunt and the unspoken will of the leader. As he surged forward so did they, their cries howling out to the night. For the first time that night, Blaster experienced full on terror as suddenly its vision was all black. The howling calls of the Beowolves as they scratched at its metal sides, Ursai roving around and slamming its arms aside whenever the metal creature tried to fire its Seed Bombs. Boarbatusk launched themselves like cannonballs, launching themselves into Blaster's unprotected face. It was like it was trapped in an evil quicksand, sinking into its depths with every strike.

Suddenly, a wave of power. A whole pack of the Grimm summoned vanished to nothing but smoke, their severed connection felt as though a sudden emptiness in his mind. How could it still go on? He could feel the summoned creatures negative emotions in the back of his mind. They wanted their prey, now. Suddenly as Blaster began to glow in an orange light he saw its arms light up with fire as it began to soar high into the air, energy seemingly renewed. He could almost swear he heard the concerned yells of two people, but he was sure that he was just imagining things. It was only himself and the Grimm, right? Running and mounting a larger Nevermore, they took to the skies.

It was almost completely vertical. He could feel the mounting dread of the Ultra Beast above him as he soared upwards, the Grimm only growing faster with each second. Around him flew a half decent flock of Griffons, Geists and Nevermore all focused on only one target. No amount of Automatize could outrun them now. If he could just shoot it...he loaded a single round and prayed it would hit.

The smell of ozone wafted through the air again for a split second, only this time from the barrel of Poetry as the Lightning Dust round soared and hit Blaster. While only a stop gap, the arcs of electricity danced across the beasts metallic body. It was now, or never. Enlarging the Beast Ball in his hand, there seemed to be a silent moment between the two as they saw what lay before them. Then it was all over as the ball crashed against the giant creatures lower side before encapsulating it in a red light. He caught it as it rocked once, twice, three times in his hand. Click. He was vaguely aware of a rapid descent as his home came back into view. How tiny it looked from up here. How was he up here again? He hugged tight to this creature, frowning at its lack of warmth. He felt cold as well if he thought about it. Why couldn't he feel his aura? Why couldn't he feel anything? Hear anything? He was falling, then he wasn't, but it didn't matter because he could no longer see anything. All that was left were the silent cries of the sated darkness as they left this world, deed done.

* * *

Looker and Anabel stood over the young child, rather speechless. The whole place was a horror show if they were quite honest. While the fires had seemingly burned themselves out, the place was ashen and wrecked beyond what any minor repairs could fix. Whatever hadn't been destroyed was most certainly damaged by whatever...those things were. Anabel looked at the gray-haired child in fear. What was he? Was he even human?

Anabel hadn't known what to think when she had seen it. She had expected for him to perform some sort of distraction so that she could secure the objective, but this? There was no way she could have predicted such a thing occurring. Was this the power of a psychic? She has heard of people manifesting guardians for themselves, but not like this. The air still felt choking with the aura of those creatures. The child's Pokemon were currently worrying over him, holding onto his motionless form. The Bronzor seemed to be floating nonchalantly, however, as though it were to be expected. How curious. Disregarding that, he seemed to be rather battered and bruised. Indeed, his clothes were rather stained by that curious black fluid and a bit of what appeared to be his own blood, based on the many scrapes along his body. A raspy breath emitted from his throat. It was at this moment they noticed the blue Pokeball lying on its side a few feet away.

"He caught it," Looker stated, validating that the situation was not, in fact, some sort of messed up daydream. "He actually caught it." He paused. "We need to get him and his Pokemon out of here. I'll call an ambulance." His boss nodded her approval of these actions before collecting the ball. That would be a headache that she would need to deal with later. For now, it seemed that she had a report to make.

* * *

"..."

"..."

"It begins."


	8. Chapter 8: A Blast(er) to the Past

Onyx had awakened his semblance a long time before he had met the Rose-Xiao Long family. He wished he hadn't.

Unlike most main characters who always seemed to have a positive attitude, he hadn't had the greatest family growing up. Granted, there was also the other end of the spectrum with edgy kids looking for revenge after their childhood, but he'd like to think that he wasn't on that side. Regardless, his early years hadn't been easy.

The Blackbourne family wasn't one that was known for many nice things. Indeed, just as his parents made their living off of crime, so did his relatives and ancestors. Supposedly they were bandits in the past, but he had no proof of that. Some made their name off of assassination, others through white collar crimes. His father was a thug of sorts, working with others in their small town to make a living. Protection money, threats, the whole stereotype.

He was Cast Blackbourne. His mother, Malachite, was a cat burglar. Yes, she was also a Faunus. Yes, that did cause much derision for her even from her supposed peers. No, it wasn't very funny. Nothing about it really was. Together, they were codependent.

Onyx had been around seven or eight years old when it had happened. He wasn't really sure, to be honest. Those memories were a bit of a haze now. It was around this time that the Blackbourne household started to deteriorate. Malachite was forced to lay low after an order for her capture had been sent out, forcing all of the family's financial burdens to fall upon Cast. Often he could hear the two yelling, sometimes fighting in the kitchen. Many times they would yell in front of him uncaring. He could hear them either way. About money. About jobs. About him.

"Well if you care about him so much, why don't you go feed him!" His father had roared once after a really bad argument.

Indeed, the extra mouth was putting a burden on their already meager spending money. He had often heard them whispering, only catching snippets. But words like 'abandon' and 'leave behind' are pretty easy to connect after their other conversations. He didn't know what to think.

Onyx wasn't a criminal. He thought that, at least. Just because it was in his blood, it didn't mean that he wanted to make that his life. Wasn't there something more to it than that? He didn't know, to be honest. This was what he had been born into. If he was left behind, would he find some way to escape that? No, that was impossible. Who would want a Faunus? 'Menagerie' a voice within his head sounded. No, that was impossible. They were too far away to care about a single person. Especially one from a background such as his.

It was around this time that Onyx began to notice something strange. Whenever his parents would begin to argue, he would begin to feel this strange sensation. It wasn't his own emotions, so much as he could feel them as though they had been. It was almost like a sixth sense, of sorts. Strange. It was almost tangible with how thick it sometimes became in the air. Almost as though it were moldable.

Over time, he also became aware of another presence, whenever the feeling surfaced. It was lurking, an almost unrecognizable sensation. He couldn't see nor hear it, but it was there. It seemed hungry almost. As though it were looking for something. He would touch those emotions in the air and feel it perk up from the shadows. Was this was it wanted? Tentatively, he grasped it and fed it little by little to that odd nothing beside him. That was the first time Onyx ever created a creature of Grimm.

Looking back, he supposed he was lucky that it was benign. Oddly influenced by his own aura, the slow feeding of emotions into it had it spawn into the world in an almost infantile state. Like a wolf pup, save for its shaggy black fur and bone face along with bright red eyes. Beowolves did not grow from pups, they were spawned juveniles. Yet this one was. Not quite understanding what it was, he named it Michael. He never even noticed the maple leaf emblazon itself upon the creature's head.

Michael was an odd creature, not requiring any substance to survive. It didn't eat, nor drink. It didn't seem to even need to use the bathroom. It appeared that all it needed were those strange emotions, along with cuddles. The cuddles seemed to be optional, however, as he had seen when it hadn't appeared for a week. The pup grew in size, almost to his knee. It was around this time that Onyx began to feel other odd emotions.

It was almost like he had a link with the creature. When they were close it felt as though it were trying to send him a message. When they physically touched, it was almost as though they were one and the same. It wasn't Michael's fur, it was his. Not the Beowolves' eyes, his own. He would come from these sessions feeling strange and oddly hungry. As though he wanted something that he couldn't get.

He couldn't remember the day that it happened. He wasn't sure that he wanted to if he was honest with himself. Some things were better off laid to rest. He remembered there being yelling. His mother and father, once again. But this time, things didn't die down. They continued even more, the words still incoherent even in memory. Suddenly, they were yelling at him. Now he was crying. He remembered a sharp, stinging blow to the face, then flying back into a wall. He remembered seeing the two go down in a heap as they began to throw tooth and claw. He remembered looking at Michael, who had pawed out of the shadows and looked at him, as though expectant. Something broke inside of Onyx. For the first time, he let out a roar.

There was nothing more. Only black and red. The sounds of tooth and claw against flesh. Screams of terror. The mocking cry of a crow. Crackling flames licking the sides of destroyed homes. Onyx came to inside the collapsed ruins of his home. He looked left, right, up. His parents, gone. He felt weak too, dirty. As though he had run a marathon and then some. Something within him felt cold, as though it had been used up. He reached out to Michael but found nothing. Only the cold. He trudged over to a mirror and froze at what he saw.

There, in the glass, was him. But it wasn't, at the same time. Pale skin and snow white hair contrasted against his normal appearance. Red markings ran through his skin in odd patterns. Instead of a green, crimson orbs stared back uncomprehendingly. He began to tremble and collapsed to his knees.

* * *

Onyx did not actually wake up with a gasp and push himself up, as the law of cliche states. Instead he was rather drowsy, although he was disturbed by the nightmare. He thought he had gotten over that one a long while ago. Apparently not, as demonstrated by its resurfacing. Then again, he had gone and done something very dangerous, not unlike what had happened that day. He was lucky to still be himself, even with training and his maturation. No person should be handling that much negative energy. He looked himself over. He was in a hospital gown at the moment in, you guessed it, a hospital bed. He seemed to have a private room, but why? It wasn't as though he had anything contagious or anything. He examined himself, finding the answer rather obvious. His pale white skin, marked with red were the remnants of overuse in his Semblance. Nobody would want to be near him in that state, they probably thought he was on death's door. In a way, he was. He channeled his aura through his body, watching the color return to his skin slightly and the markings to lessen. Whatever injuries he still had he could feel beginning to mend themselves with the added help of Aura. Seems that he wouldn't need to be here long.

He was wrong in that regard. The doctors were rather stunned at his abrupt recovery and had held him up for a number of examinations before finally releasing him. Really, was that truly needed? Ah well, now that was over. He had his stuff, now he just had to find his parents. Wait, his parents? Had they visited? Did they even know where he was? He began to hurry out the door but was stopped by a heavy hand on the shoulder.

"Onyx." Looker stood there, his smiling face serious. "I'm afraid I need a moment of your time."

* * *

The Castelia City branch of the International Police was a pretty spiffy building if he could say so himself. Despite the lackluster outside, its gray coloring making it blend into the rest of the scenery, he could see it stretched far into the air. It had a certain weight to it, in his opinion.

Looker had taken him there via car after exiting the hospital, apparently under orders by a superior. Onyx wasn't sure if this meant Anabel or someone else, he hadn't bothered asking. Wait, how did he know Anabel was his superior? He didn't remember Looker mentioning it. Or had he? Was it something he had picked up without ever even realizing? He furrowed his brow slightly, retreating into his own thoughts. The ride had been silent otherwise.

Upon stepping out he had been escorted into the building. It seemed rather casual, but the air had a certain charge to it. There was a lack of visitors compared to what one would expect of such a place. While it was a government agency, they were oddly open to the public touring the place. Looker approached one of the men manning the front desks and he didn't need to use his aura to tell this man was rather nervous. Why? He mulled it over, before realizing that if the events of Square Park had been made common knowledge in the organization they might not want to approach him. He ran his hands over his belt, finding only five Pokeballs. There should be six, including Blaster. Where was it?

Onyx kept his mouth shut, however, aware of the scrutinizing attention being brought upon him as they entered an elevator that Looker had been directed to. There a rather imposing man took their number, pressing a button as the door closed. It was just them. To his surprise, they began to move downwards instead of up. A basement? He should have been paying more attention to the conversation earlier. After a few more seconds, the doors opened up and they stepped out.

The halls were white and oddly quiet, denoting a lack of movement. Despite this, Looker moved with purpose, forcing Onyx to jog slightly in order to keep up. Curse this twelve-year-old body and its shorter legs. At least he wasn't breaking out yet. Yeah, that would suck. Looker stopped in front a room marked D10, gesturing for Onyx to go first. He moved through the entryway…

And instantly triggered several alarms.

The sounds of guns being pulled from their holster and multiple Pokemon being released from a large group of policemen and scientists apparently working around some sort of complicated board and a large window sent Onyx into a panic. It was a trap! His bag dropped to the floor before his hands moved to his sides to ready his own firearms. Looker grabbed his arm before he could move any further. "Stand down! He's our person of interest, not an intruder!"

Despite the fact that Looker had almost certainly just yelled at people of higher ranking than him, he saw many lower their weapons and return their creatures, however, he noted some did so at a much more leisurely pace than others. Perhaps that meant that some people in here had heard the story and others hadn't? "You can sit down there." Looker gestured to an unclaimed chair nearby. Onyx sat down and after a brief moment pulled out his scroll. In the background, he could hear someone talking about property damages caused by the latest attack. Not in his interest, to be completely honest. Unless it had wrecked his own house. No, that wouldn't have happened probably. He was closer to the ports than the garden, and it looked like the fighting had been largely contained to that area. In that was he supposed that Anabel and Looker had done a great job. Where was Anabel, anyway? He looked around a couple of times before finding her standing in a clump of similarly uniformed people. He managed a small wave, although she didn't seem to catch it. It was likely she was more focused on the lecture.

He was brought back to the present by a tap on the shoulder from Looker. Wow, again? He was more out of it than he had thought if this was happening over and over. A splash in the face with water would probably do wonders for him right now. He was directed over to the board, which he noted out of the corner of his eye had stopped displaying statistics and was now a simple background with the International Police logo.

"This is Onyx Version, currently a Provisional Member of the International Police due to the emergency status of the Square Garden attack. Agent Version, can you recount for us your perspective on the events?" Oh, he was an agent now? Weren't they all agents? Granted, he doubted that he actually had an actual role or rank in this whole thing. Or that he would be part of this whole thing for much longer. Shuffling a bit on his feet, he tried to figure out where to start.

"Hi, I'm Onyx. I'm a Pokemon Trainer." Apparently, nobody was impressed to see some twelve-year-old kid who teaches animals to fight each other for a living. "I'm also the person who caught the Ultra Beast known as Blaster." Now he had their attention. How far back to begin?

"I had been chased by a horde of Zubat through the sewers when I felt this odd sense of foreboding." A few whispers of sympathy, that was always annoying. "Upon outmaneuvering them and reaching the surface, I witnessed a dark cloud of billowing smoke from the inner city. I had previously made an engagement with my mother to meet there and was unable to make contact with her. As such, I moved towards the scene." A few people were taking notes. Wasn't there already someone keeping footage of this whole interaction? There was no way there weren't.

"After arriving I saw Anabel and Looker fighting an odd creature which was causing damage to its surroundings. Upon seeing me, it turned around and proceeded to charge me. I struck it and ran for cover." A man rose from his seat.

"You say that you struck it? With what sort of instrument? Surely you are not saying that you fought an Ultra Beast with your bare hands?" Onyx looked to Anabel, seeing her pause for a few moments before nodding. No real direction there at all, but it was better than nothing. Retrieving his bag, he brought it back with him before checking that both guns were in fan mode. Slamming the two together caused a few people to jump as they merged together, forming the full fan in front of them. He leaned on the closed weapon for support.

"I use this as a self-defense weapon in case I am attacked by any wild Pokemon and am unable to defend myself. While it is a decent shield, it also works as a blunt force weapon when folded." A few chuckled at the premise of Blaster being smacked in the same way one would with a paper fan. Granted, this one was made of metal, but regardless. Thankfully none asked about the legitimacy of owning such a thing as he wasn't sure that his ID would have flown.

"After meeting with Agent Looker he handed me a supply of Beast Balls and then directed me to act as a diversion for Agent Anabel. I gave him control of my Pokemon and stepped out to face it." He paused here. How was he supposed to explain the Grimm? Things such as a Semblance or Aura didn't exist around here. Actually, now that he thought about it, aura did. However, last he checked they weren't really the same thing. They certainly didn't cause beasts made of pure hate to manifest. How could he explain it? His voice caught in his throat but words came flowing out.

"I then used psychic energies in order to create shells for my power, greatly damaging the creature. For the record, I am a psychic in training." That was a thing? Also, how did he pull that off? Why did it sound like those words had been doubled in his head?

'Your welcome.' The disembodied voice of Jumpchan echoed in his head. Somehow she had also managed to blow a raspberry in the process. How he knew this he wasn't sure, but he did all the same. He sent out a tentative 'Thanks.' , but he had no way of knowing if it ever reached. Even so, he had to keep pace or they'd see something was off.

"My diversion had ended up greatly damaging Blaster, so it took to the skies in order to escape. I followed it and after stunning it briefly was able to complete a capture. However, in the process I had overused my abilities and lost consciousness, leaving me in this state. As you can see, I don't look very healthy right now." He gestured to his pale skin and the red markings on his skin. "Aside from that, I don't have much to add." He was promptly dismissed, directed to another separate room to wait in. Strange, he had expected more headache. Was he lucky, or was this more unforeseen interference from Jumpchan? He suspected a little bit of both. Whipping out his phone, he was halfway through typing a correspondence to his mother that he was alright when Looker came through the door again. Hitting send, he stood up again.

"You should be all set and ready to go." Looker began. He was notably more relaxed than he had been at the start of the day. Perhaps it was the stress of an unfinished job off of his back? "However, there are some things we need to cover." Uh oh, scratch that. Looker fished out a small black wallet and handed it over to Onyx. He opened it, finding it to be a picture of himself along with credentials belonging to the International Police. The picture appeared to be freshly taken, as he was rather pale and still had faint red markings along his body.

"That's your Provisional International Police Badge. While it won't do you any good for investigation, you shouldn't have anybody questioning you for what you carry." Onyx was instantly grateful for that, now he wouldn't need to worry about always triple checking that his firearms were safely hidden. Why would he be given this now though? The answer came in the form of a blue ball with yellow ridges, pressed into his hand. It was Blaster's ball.

"The decision was made to entrust Blaster to you, as our scientists have already studied everything they can on it. While it should be calmed now due to it having been captured, I trust that you will use it with the utmost care. At your current state, it is likely that it will not obey as often as a standard Pokemon would due to your lack of experience. Do you understand what I'm saying?" Loud and clear. Do not use Celesteela unless he wanted bad things to happen. "It was recently named Celesteela, so I suppose you could call it that instead of Blaster if you'd like."

See, there it was again. Looker hadn't even told him the name but he already knew it. Was he reading minds and not even knowing? Looks like he was going to need Bronzor for therapy, this whole psychic thing was more trouble than it was worth. Lucky he had only gotten it for useful information, he didn't need to know what was going on in other people's thoughts.

"Thanks Looker, I'll be careful." He shook his hand and stepped out, before reappearing a few seconds later. "Which way is the elevator again?" Looker pointed left and Onyx was soon out the building, leaving the man alone. He heaved a deep sigh, before pulling out a small transceiver. "Onyx Version is leaving the building."

It had been a shock to discover the same anomaly found around Fallers upon him after a medical diagnosis in the hospital. However, he seemed to be rather unaware of his status. That, or he was hiding it. Which one was it? He felt that the organization was leaving him a huge risk. A Faller and an Ultra Beast together was nothing but bait to others of its kind. Unova already had relatively low levels compared to high-risk regions such as Kalos and Alola, why would they just compound the risk in the area? Sure he had left him with a set of Beast Balls, along with a couple more if Onyx had checked his Pokeballs more thoroughly, but that still wouldn't help much if he was really attacked. No matter what that whole show had been at the Garden, he was still just a child.

"I worry for you kiddo…"

* * *

"Ooh, the events begin!" Jumpchan giggled, eying the figure of Onyx as he moved through the streets to his house. She moused over the viewer count before shrugging. That was to be expected, he was a new Jumper after all. It was doubtful any other beings would be heavily interested in these adventures yet.

"The adventures begin because you set up the city like a time bomb and had it cook for twelve years. Sometimes I wonder if you understand the value of life Jumpchan." Coordinator quipped back, currently in the middle of attempting a nap. Laziness might seem to be a habit among the three, but keeping the whole show running and fighting off any errors such as a cosmic overlord looking for a snack was a lot harder than it seemed.

"Sure I do, you're just a stick in the mud. What do you say we fast forward a week and see where he picks up? Since he's home there's no doubt that he's going to be stalling for a bit." She rolled over and picked up her interface before maneuvering the time-related applications to the big screen.

"What about the main plot? Nate and Hugh will plow on without him and take care of all the interesting bits. Then what do we have left?" Coordinator questioned back. Egil rose bleary-eyed from a mountain of pillows.

"That's easy." They looked at him. "What? I'm a God of Creativity. Making filler is child's play. Here, let me generate some stuff for the two of them." He pulled out his own interface and began to type rapidly.

"Alright, so that's three votes?" The two men nodded, apparently busy with their own tasks. Coordinator was adjusting the equipment to handle the rapid scene change and Egil was forcefully injecting certain behaviors into some key characters in the city for the next week. Techies. Smiling to herself, she hit the needed buttons and watched the world blur by as the week passed.


	9. Chapter 9: Paintbrush Against Pistol

A week later, Onyx was standing outside the entrance to the Castelia City Gym.

If he was quite honest with himself, nothing of great importance had really passed within the week. He was expecting some sort of mob of reporters outside of his door, but apparently, the International Police had done a rather impressive job of covering up the actual events as he had yet to hear any names he knew personally appear on television. That and those kinds of events only tended to happen in cliche stories. He supposed that both thoughts counted for something.

Meeting with his mother again was a great weight off of his chest and the two had spent a day out in celebration of his return. After an outing to the movies, he had found out that she had been on the way to the Garden before the explosions hit and immediately ran back home, assuming that he was staying at the pokemon center until it was all cleared up. He didn't have the heart to tell her what had really happened, opting to let her believe the little setting she had cooked up. He was lucky enough that the hospital had been instructed to handle the matter of his stay delicately and thus he had been able to pull off his cover easily enough.

Of course, he hadn't spent the week just lazing around. While he admittedly did a bit of that, he did get some training in with his team. Snuffles was clearly close to evolution, the vibrant color of its fur was a clear indication of changes to come. Eyes seemed to be on the track for that, however, it was more likely that Snuffles would beat him to it. Spine was growing along the rest of them, however, it seemed that the Cactus Pokemon's evolution would be delayed for a while. This didn't seem to bother it, however, as it still trained with just as much vigor as the others. Granted, nothing ever seemed to bother it.

It was rather odd getting lessons from a pokemon, but Eyes seemed to be doing a rather decent job at it. While it couldn't really use words, emotions and expression seemed to be doing the rest of the job rather well. The psychic arts didn't seem to be a sort of thing that really needed words, either. It was sort of like a muscle, he thought. Pokemon had Power Points for things such as moves, but innate abilities weren't things that ran on such reserves. As such, all he had to learn was how to reach out for it, right?

Yes, and no. Just because he had a theory and the innate power didn't mean that putting into practice was easy. Just like learning how to walk, it was a long grind filled with failure after failure. While he was now able to move around light objects, he couldn't do anything other than making them lazily float. For now, it seemed he would be limited to the lower tier areas until he could figure out an easier way to make it work. Ah well, at least it looked nice. Too bad that it only came in purple though, if anything the surrounding aura made it look almost sinister.

Aside from that, Onyx had taken the time to approach Celesteela, privately. He had done it in the desert north of the city, making sure to find a deserted (heh) area in the nearby ruins before releasing it. While he was away from civilization in case the worst occurred, he was also armed with everything he had. At the moment, he had no clue how it would react.

Celesteela was...odd if he were direct about it. Upon release, it seemed to stretch as best as a metallic being could, before moving as though to taste the air. It scanned the area around it for a short while after, or so it seemed. Was it calmer now, since it was captured? It turned to look at him, before hovering closer to the ground to get a better look. Satisfied with whatever it was looking for, it promptly returned itself. Onyx never bothered to question what that was about. He wasn't sure he wanted to know. Likely he would end up either traumatized or more confused than he was before. At least he hadn't needed to fight that thing again. If he were true to himself, there was no way he could have fought that thing alone and won.

Aside from that, for the past week, he had been having this strange feeling. It was almost as though the whole world had suddenly just...stagnated. Yes, that felt like the right word. Like all the world had lost just a tiny bit of color for a while. Often times he had found himself staring at a wall, wondering what the heck he had been doing before realizing about a half an hour had passed. It was a bit worrisome, but perhaps he was just still in shock from the previous week's events. Yes, that had to be it. After all, now that he was here, the world seemed so much more lively and intense. Time to do things! He moved to open the door only to stop as a middle-aged man passed through, holding the door briefly to allow him in. Thanking him quickly, he strode in.

This was not the first time Onyx had visited Burgh's gym. This made a great deal of sense, considered he lived in relatively close proximity to it. Often the man would use it as a modern art exhibit, either allowing others to temporarily display their works or make his own. Today, it seemed to be the latter, if he was correct on the origins of the sticky thread about the place. If that wasn't String Shot, he would eat his cap. A whole lot of it, if the whole place was following the theme. Multiple cocoons were set up about the place, some no doubt containing other displays within. Normally he'd be a lot more enthused and perhaps even tour the place a bit, but at the current moment, he had a goal. He couldn't become distracted from that again. Looking around a bit, he spotted the Gym's guide behind a small group of tourists. He got the man's attention with a wave.

"Bathroom's on the left if you're looking." The man began as though a greeting. Onyx mentally sighed. Apparently, he looked like another clueless passerby. What a confidence destroyer.

"Actually, I'm looking to challenger Burgh. Is he available?" That got the man's attention. Signaling for him to hold he pulled out a small radio and signaled a code into it, before receiving a response.

"Burgh just got back from lunch, lucky you. Take the center strand up and Burgh will be waiting." After thanking the guide he made his way around the crowds and towards the center strand, which currently had a felt bar across it to designate the public that they shouldn't pass. Ducking under, he found several wooden steps going up the tube. So they hadn't only used webbing after all. Well, that was to be expected. He doubted that the place would have been safe otherwise.

The trek up was long and particularly boring, although thankfully he had been yet to feel the burn as he reached the top. Burgh's cocoon looked like a unicorn had gone ahead and upchucked its last meal, so vibrant it was in colors. The whole place seemed to be a myriad of different colors save for the ceiling, which appeared to be not reached yet. A multitude of paint cans, each with its own brush, littered the place and gave it a very 'under construction' feel. Amid the chaos stood Burgh, who apparently had been holding a pose waiting for him to arrive. Artists.

"Ah, a new challenger!" The man waved his hands grandly. "You know me as Burgh, the Premier Insect Artist! And who might you-" He seemed to peer at Onyx for a minute. "Wait, didn't we meet before? We did, didn't we?"

"Last week, at the sewer," Onyx responded. "Before the giant explosion?"

"Ah yes! I remember!" Burgh clapped his hands. "Nice work in handling those ruffians. Commendable work and all. Anyways, Trainer ID please?" Onyx briefly handed it over as the artist looked it over. "Two badges already? Nice job Onyx. Funny, there was another person a while back who had me as their third just like you…" He seemed to be remembering something. "No matter. As a gym leader and a lover of the Bug Type, I will face you with all of my power!"

He enlarged a Pokeball from his pocket and launched it into the air, a yellow colored seed of sorts with a leafy coloring landing before looking at Onyx with a frown. A Swadloon, if he was identifying it correctly. Not too powerful, but he should be careful. "Alright, let's move Eyes!" The Bronze pokemon emerged quietly, looking left and right before staring unblinkingly into the Swadloon's gaze.

"This will be a three on three official pokemon match. The challenger is allowed to switch their pokemon at any time. Battle begin!" Burgh roared, before swinging his arm in an arc. Apparently a signal of sorts, the Swadloon let out a yell before multiple leaves came from under its covering at high speeds. Moving out of the way Eyes managed to dodge most of them, although some did manage to scrape its body. If it was feeling any discomfort, then it was refusing to show it.

Here an opportunity was presented that he would get to pull off a neat little trick that he and Eyes had been practicing for the past week. Not a move, per se, as they hadn't been doing any fancy regimens for flashy combos. That could wait until he got stronger. For now though, he had his own gimmicks to work with. 'Eyes, Psyshock!'

It wasn't spoken so much as projected. That was the only way that Onyx could describe psychic communication. Almost like sending out a signal, he supposed. The only issue was, he had no idea if Eyes got it or not. After all, while they might both have the same potential for psychic abilities the language barrier still stood. While Pokémon might be able to understand humans, even psychics still could not communicate in such fashion save for those with extensive training. Blah, he was thinking too much about this.

The glow in the Bronzor's eyes said enough about its understanding. From around the stadium, multiple paint cans and brushes began to glow before pelting themselves from every direction. Try as it might the Swadloon could not evade the entire assault, becoming slightly battered by the onslaught of items and becomes quite dirty with paint.

"Those were expensive you know." Burgh moaned at the attack. "Ah well, points for ingenuity. "String Shot!" A tough strand of the bug type material shot from the Swadloon. Before Onyx's eyes he watched as it spewed out one after another, each seemingly aimed anywhere but Eyes. Why? He observed for a moment, signaling the Pokémon to pause. Then he realized, as the Swadloon began to connect two pieces. It was making a web!

'Psywave!' He commanded mentally. A glow from the Bronze Pokemon's eyes quickly coalesced into a single rainbow glow before turning into a single large beam. With an odd sound that was almost like something was being ripped it fired forward, rocketing into the trappings. To his dismay, he found that it only did minimal damage, the structure still standing. It seemed that Burgh's pokemon had his eye for architecture as well. Go figure. 'Get out of there!'

But Swadloon was already moving. With a fierce cry a somehow visible burst of sound came from its mouth in the form of a screech. Some sort of auditory-based attack. Maybe Hyper Voice? No, it couldn't learn that. Bronzor seemed rather uncomfortable with the attack though, so it had to be of one of the few types that it took decent damage from. Regardless, he had to stop the Swadloon from continuing.

The interesting things about pokemon and their movesets were that while they were powerful enough on their own, when combined with the strategies of another they became infinitely more powerful. As such, just a few added commands along with a move could go a long way in a battle. 'Use the paint again. Feint Attack!' Instead of just going in for the move, Eyes picked up another nearby brush with its psychic abilities before flinging it into the Pokemon's eyes. It screeched, now in pain rather than in the use of a move. "Swadloon! Clear your vision!" The Leaf-Wrapped Pokemon tried to clean itself, but it was made more difficult by the fact that it was already very dirty. Onyx smirked. Eyes might not be fast enough, but this was more than enough time for it.

The Bronze pokemon slammed into the Swadloon at full force, catapulting it across the room. The poor thing couldn't even boast some sort of resistance, as not only was it taking 'normal' damage, but it had taken around 130 pounds of metal to its whole body. Last he checked, that was about thirteen times the weight of the average Swadloon. From the other side of the room it struggled to get up for a minute before falling back down, exhausted. Onyx felt a pang of pity at the sight. He was just trying to win, but that thing looked pretty battered.

Burgh quietly returned the Pokemon. Onyx began to feel a bit nervous. Had he angered the Gym Leader? A whole slew of scenarios passed through his head, some involving disqualification and others with him having to fight the man himself. Then, suddenly, a large grin lit up Burgh's face. "That was brilliant! I have no clue how you did that with your Bronzor, but it certainly was impressive. Poor Swadloon, it was in a bad matchup. However," He reached for another ball, "Don't think I'm out just yet! Dwebble!" Instead of lobbing it up in the air as normal, Burgh wound up before throwing it like a fastball.

Onyx's eyes widened as suddenly the Rock Inn Pokemon flew forward and into Eyes, who was caught unprepared and sent careening. Trying to adjust itself, it moved to float away only to find itself immobilized. It let out a slight cry of alarm in the form of a "Zor!" Onyx squinted, only to find that it was trapped in finer threads that he hadn't been able to pay attention to before. With each movement it made it grew into a thicker barrier around it.

"An artist's triumph lies in the little details." Burgh stated. "Show him what it means, Dwebble! Rock Polish, then Smack Down!" As the Pokemon rapidly began to shine up its shell to prepare for faster movement, Onyx sent a harried 'Iron Defense!' towards Eyes as it continued to attempt its way out. Try as it might, it seemed the structure was holding tight. He saw it thicken slightly, causing it to barely rip, but not nearly enough. It seems Iron Defense wouldn't be able to free it.

Suddenly a small yellow orb of energy impacted Eyes and it was abruptly torn to the floor before being covered in all of the trappings it had just been forcibly freed from. He hesitantly sent it an order to rise, but it remained face down on the floor. It seems that it was done for the day. Returning it, he made a mental note to apologize to it later. He really should have been more prepared than this when it came to reacting to his opponent's strategy.

"You're not the only one who can use an opponent's weight to their advantage." Burgh lectured. "Good on you though. Always remember, before typing first observe the qualities of the opponent. The answer is simpler than you think. Now, what kind of artwork will you show me next?"

Indeed, who. He had three choices as to who. Celesteela was out of the question, obviously. According to Looker it was doubtful that it would listen to him in a fight as of yet and if he was still honest it creeped him out slightly. Also, there was the issue of Burgh potentially knowing what it was and freaking out upon realizing that the beast that was terrorizing the city not a week ago was right in front of him. Not to mention it would probably have some issues moving around in the cocoon. It was like what, thirty feet? Enough that he had issues eyeballing it, that was for certain.

While Snuffles definitely could make short of the remaining strings, he had to keep in mind that the Dwebble had just shown its proficiency in a powerful Rock Type move. To throw the Pignite into the fray like that would be suicidal. Spine, however, stood a chance. Its move would do more damage than usual, so if it was able to stop it from using that sound move, then he should be okay. Maybe it was Bug Buzz?

"Spine, let's go!" For Spine he would have to vocalize, he wasn't sure if he was powerful enough in that regard to communicating to non-psychics. The Cacnea erupted forth and stretched a bit, before familiarizing itself with its surroundings. It didn't seem to mind the string much, piercing through an errant strand with its natural barbs with no issue, but it seemed to eyes the paints with some level of disdain. Oh, right, it was a plant.

"Hmm! That's a healthy looking Cacnea you have there!" Burgh commented. "I have a friend of mine in the Kalos region who owns a couple. It looks like yours is close to evolving. It really likes you as well, doesn't it?" Onyx's eyes widened slightly in surprise. "Don't be surprised. Most Cacnea's tend to be rather mischievous with their trainers until they know them for a long time. You two been together for a while?" He questioned.

"We have, but that's neither here nor there." While the conversation was nice, ultimately it was clear stalling as the Dwebble recovered its strength from its latest move. "Spine?" It looked at him questioningly. "Let's play some Whack-A-Mole."

Immediately its two arms began to glow a bright green, the spikes elongating to threatening barbs. Charging as fast as its stubby legs would allow, it swung its two arms at the Rock Inn Pokemon. The defender edged away, slightly stung after maneuvering most its body away from it. The hit still stung, however, and it seemed to be rather annoyed by it. "Dweb." It glared back.

"Hit it with a Smack Down!" Burgh yelled at his Pokemon. Once again, a small yellow back began to charge in front of the Dwebble. Here was his chance. "Cacnea, Sand Attack!" Slamming one of its arms into the ground sent up a large cloud of dust from the previous battle into the Dwebble's vision. Startled and disoriented, it was unable to concentrate on the Smack Down before it detonated directly in front of it, causing a non-negligible amount of damage to it. It wasn't significantly weakened, but it certainly wasn't at its best. He would take advantage of that. "Move in for a Leer!" The Cacnea rushed towards the Dwebble before giving it a menacing glare. The creature trembled but stayed resolute.

Burgh smirked. "You sure that was a good idea? Dwebble, Struggle Bug!" The point blank green ball of energy sent Cacnea staggering from the super-effective technique, but it held its position just as its opponent had. However, Onyx was still smiling. He clenched his right fist in his palm.

"Actually, I think it was a great one! Spine, Payback!" A dark glow enveloped its club-like arm before it smacked right into the Rock Inn Pokemon's face, flipping over from the force of it. It wiggled a bit, before growing still. Promptly, it was returned by Burgh. After a moment's thought, he returned Spine as well. While he was still healthy for fighting, he felt it was only right that Snuffles at least get a chance. If it ended up going south, then he always had a second option.

"Very witty, that was. But can you stop my strongest? Let's go, Leavanny!" From his ball burst forth a smiling and happy looking pokemon, about the size of what one might expect from a human child. Onyx didn't let his guard down, however. At this point, it would be foolish to ignore the words of the man who had so thoroughly trounced Eyes earlier. Without words, Onyx released Snuffles, who erupted with a battle cry. Burgh seemed to look rather uncomfortable for a second. "I really hope that new fireproofing agent works…"

So did Onyx, now. Ah well, there had to be an emergency exit if things went south. Right? Right? Regardless, he had the battle to win. "Snuffles, Ember!" From the Pignite's mouth, a steady stream of flames shot towards the Leavanny. To his surprise, it didn't even try to dodge. Then, all of a sudden, its two arms moved in an X. twin shockwaves cut right through the flames, emitting a shockwave that pushed Snuffles back. "Nite!" It yelled in surprise.

"I'm afraid that you'll need to use some more powerful stuff if you want to get through Leavanny's Cut! Of course, I won't make it that easy for you. Use Razor Leaf!" Another flourish of the Pokemon's arms sent a torrent of sharpened foliage at the Fire Pig Pokemon. While most were burnt up as it wreathed itself in flames, some still managed to nick its sides. Onyx winced. He needed a new plan, it seems that waiting it out as the type advantage did the job wouldn't work this time.

"Alright then, Smog!" From Snuffles mouth, a purplish haze began to fill the closed room. Onyx briefly wondered about the ventilation of String Shot made structures. Oh well, he would just need to hope that Burgh had foreseen such a thing when creating it. Surely it wasn't woven that tight. Right?

Burgh didn't seem to be reacting badly to the move, so that was a probably a good sign. At the same time that was also the opposite, as it meant that clearly he wasn't too concerned. "Cut, once again!" He ordered, as the Nurturing Pokemon's arms began to glow with a bright light and fired out once more, echoing a shockwave through the area. He could see a few errant strands had been cut to ribbons, along with the Smog notably thinning with that single usage. Snuffles hadn't yelled out though, so he had dodged it. He grit his teeth. The Smog worked both ways, unfortunately, while Burgh couldn't see his Pokemon, neither could he. That meant he couldn't plan out an attack based on positioning, which wouldn't be smart due to the Leavanny's raw power. His mindset into overdrive as he saw Snuffles throwing out a small Ember from the Smog, forcing Leavanny to focus on that instead of clearing away the purple smoke. Great diversion, buddy.

Through his tactic, he had effectively eliminated the usage of sight from this battle. However, who said that he had to rely on it just as his opponent did? It was a spur of the moment idea, but even if he could just grasp the general concept he would hold the keys to victory.

While Onyx hadn't yet upped his weight limit in terms of his psychic abilities, just floating around the duo of Punk and Poetry being a strain, he found the theory interesting. Aside from Eyes odd nonverbal tutelage, he had taken to using the internet whenever he had cell reception to see what other psychics had to say on the issue. Some turned out to be either a bunch of nonsense or just for whatever reason didn't apply to him, but what they all agreed upon was that in order to impact something you first had to be 'aware' of it. Not in the sense of knowing it exists, so much as projecting a target for the power instead. If not, then there were high chances of someone aiming for a single book in a library to have a whole shelf collapsing on them upon attempting to remove it. Worst come to worst, he would have Snuffles disqualified if he accidentally moved or interacted with anything inside the battle. It was a risk he had to take.

Unlike what one would think, there was no screaming nor burst of power. All that one could see to understand it was activating was the light purple flash as he pushed out that blanket target. To him, the world flickered for a bit before coming back just as it had been before, only with negative space showing the other inhabitants of the room. If there was anything it could be compared to, it would be the sonar of a dolphin or bat. Pretty neat, if he said so himself. More importantly, he found that Snuffles had made his way around so that he was diagonal to the left of Burgh's Leavanny. It was a miracle he hadn't been seen by Burgh yet, but it was likely he was upkeeping a heavier Smog there to remain undetected. It was only a matter of time though.

"Quickly, Flame Charge!" Snuffles shot forward and struck the Leavanny, sending it flying. It cried out in surprise, flipping once in the air before unsteadily stopping, growling at the deception. The Flame Pig Pokemon's body held a dim glow for a few seconds, showing the physical boosters of the attack taking effect.

Burgh wasted no time, showing off his quick reactions honed through time as a gym leader. "Counter with Struggle Bug!" Again the green ball of energy grew in the hands of Burgh's Pokemon before being expelled with force towards Snuffles. The two attacks met each other on in a great burst of light. A great shudder rocked the battlefield, til at that reigned was silence.

And one figure, slowly rising from the smoke.


End file.
